Until It Sleeps
by Anterrabae
Summary: Sequel to Haunted. Reece Cahill is on a mission to destroy the vampire who changed and tortured his soulmate, Alexandra Harper. But his obsession may cost him everything, including Lex.
1. Heart of Winter

The snow had finally stopped falling, leaving a perfect, white blanket draped over the steep hill behind the house. It was blindingly bright, in spite of the paleness of the winter sun. Tufts of snow balanced along the branches of the large oak tree in the back yard. Icicles, seeming both beautiful and deadly, lined the edges of the roof.

There was a sweet innocence about the scene. It was quiet here in a way that was rare in this day and age, with humans proliferating like cancer, covering more and more of the planet with each passing moment. This was the kind of bucolic scene that wound up on calendars or amateur artwork.

Most people understood the beauty of a place like this, but they never experienced it. They never cherished it.

The small farmhouse was nestled in the rolling hills of Vermont, with over a mile of vacant, snow-covered land on all sides. The residents believed themselves to be so safe in the seclusion of their idyllic world that they did not bother to lock the doors of their home. Nor did they draw their curtains.

They did not know that he was watching them.

He could not say what had drawn him to them, to her. He had never been able to explain such things. Sometimes it was a smile or the sound of her voice, other times it was her modesty or her conceit. Rich and poor, pretty and plain, sweet and sinful—through the centuries, he'd had them all. For a time, he'd actually been afraid that he would grow bored. But humans were a constant source of diversity. No two were exactly alike, not even the twins that he'd taken a few lifetimes ago. He would never have enough of them.

In this case, he thought that maybe it was her purity that enticed him, or the simple wholesomeness of her family. Their sort of righteousness bred true strength or true weakness, but he was not sure to which end of the spectrum this particular girl belonged. Yet.

The girl was fascinating, even from afar. Through her bedroom window, he had studied the effervescence of her china blue eyes, the tiny waist that he could easily span with his hands, and the youthful narrowness of her hips. She was even younger than the other girls that tended to attract his attention, and maybe that was the reason for her exuberance, her sheer enthusiasm for life. She was always animated as she spoke—gesturing wildly as her cherubic mouth moved so quickly that he could barely read her lips. Her parents often told her to keep her voice down, but that melodic sound gave him chills every time he heard it.

Oh, imagine what her scream would sound like…

He'd gotten a taste of it once, while watching her sled down a hill with her younger brother. Her shrieks of glee were so delicious that forcing himself to remain in the shadows instead of seizing her right then and there seemed like the most difficult thing that he'd ever had to do.

Well, perhaps not the most difficult. There was always Alexandra. He could never forget Alexandra. It was his curse that she would haunt him until the end of time.

No matter. Alexandra was dead and this angelic girl, the one called Lindsay, was very much alive and ripe for the taking.

He kept himself in check as he watched her through the living room window. She was seated at the desk, biting her lip as she did her homework. This was one of his favorite times of the day. The sight of her gleaming, white teeth stabbing into her pouty bottom lip made him ache with desire.

She was wearing a silver cross around her neck, as she always did. She and her family were devout Catholics. He watched them leave for church early every Sunday morning. He heard them say grace before every meal, say their prayers before they went to sleep. Her prayers were gloriously selfless, except for her pleas for God to forgive her sins and to save her immortal soul.

But God wouldn't keep her from him. He knew that well enough. At some point, they had all screamed for some all-mighty power to rescue them, but he had yet to be struck down and the girls had never been saved from him. Sooner or later they learned that once they were in his power, he was their god. He could bring them pleasure or pain. He could make the pain feel like pleasure and eventually they all begged for it. And then they were of no use to him. It was the journey that enticed him, not the destination.

Clichés sometimes arise for good reason.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could wait. He enjoyed the anticipation, but his mouth watered every time he looked at Lindsay and he burned with need. It had been too long since he'd last had a slave. The girl that he'd taken in place of Alexandra had only amused him for a few months. And while a few girls had sparked his interest since then, he'd eventually decided that they were not worthy of him.

Damn Alexandra. She had poisoned him. It had been five years since he had destroyed her and she still plagued his thoughts and dreams. She'd held him captivated for nearly three decades—far longer than he had ever kept any one girl. There had been something so addictive about her pain. It was endless. Even after he had broken her, it had still been pure rapture to crush the shards that were left until she was nothing but dust.

Unlike all of his other fledglings, she had inherited his one unique power when he'd made her. Most vampires could only read a person's conscious thoughts. But he and Alexandra had the ability to dive below the surface thoughts to swim in the depths of the person's soul. The unconscious mind was their playground.

This power allowed him to feel Alexandra's fear and pain. But, more than that, she could feel the pleasure that she brought him and he fed on that as well. It spiraled to unrivaled heights of ecstasy. And it inspired in him a…creativeness that he never would have found without her.

After all this time, he had begun to believe that he would never find another girl who could compare to Alexandra.

Until Lindsay. Her every gesture, her every breath enthralled him.

He crept closer to the house as the sun began to set. He had no fear of her seeing him. Even if the hairs on the back of her neck rose under the intensity of his stare and she came to the window, her human eyes couldn't discern his body from the shadows.

But she didn't even lift her head. She was concentrating too hard on her math homework, even though it was unnecessary. Lindsay could have answered all of the problems correctly in mere minutes, but she believed in the quality of her work. She believed in working diligently at everything that she did.

It was a quality that she shared with him.

Her long, light brown hair spilled down her back and she put down her pencil for a moment so that she could run her fingers through it. The thick, straight locks were her only vanity and she loathed herself for it. Night after night, she begged God to forgive her for this mortal sin and to give her the courage to cut it all off so that she could be free from temptation. But Lindsay still hadn't found the strength to sacrifice her silky hair and he found that one weakness, that tiny imperfection, remarkably delicious.

He focused on the girl and felt her soul brush against his mind. The exquisite friction nearly brought him to his knees.

Lindsay's head suddenly snapped towards the window, as if something outside had startled her. Her face paled. Breathing quickly, she got up from her chair and walked to the window. She squinted, staring out into the darkness.

Then the girl walked to the doorway and flicked off the lights. She knew that as long as the lights were on, whatever was outside could see her, while she could not see it.

Clever girl.

Too bad the thing watching her was a creature of the night. Even in the dark, he could see her at the window perfectly well.

After a few minutes, she turned the lights back on and sat down at the desk again. Apparently, she had decided that she'd imagined the strange sensation that had scared her so badly.

But he knew better.

He watched her now, more intrigued than ever. She had felt the touch of his mind against hers. Perhaps there was some witch blood in her family. Or perhaps she was as sensitive and intuitive as Alexandra had been.

He smiled to himself.

Time would tell.

* * *

The bell over the door jingled as Alexandra Harper entered the café and stomped the loose snow off of her boots resentfully. Vampires were supposed to be unaffected by the cold, but for some reason that rule didn't seem to apply to her. Even after living in Montreal for over a year, she still couldn't bear the bitter winds, the icy sidewalks, or the endless flutter of snow. And it was only December. The worst of winter was yet to come.

The café was small, but cozy. There were several tables and plenty of large, over-stuffed chairs. The manager was obsessed with jazz music, so there was almost always some Coltrane or Mingus playing. Best of all, it was hardly ever crowded and it didn't have the sterile, mass-produced feel of a Starbucks.

It was one of her favorite places in the city, but Lex hadn't been there in over a month. When winter started to settle in, she tended to barricade herself in her apartment.

She sat down at a table in the back and rubbed her hands together briskly, trying to coerce some feeling into her fingers.

A few people looked at her as she started to unzip her coat and anxiety instinctively unfurled within her. It was an effort to remind herself that these people didn't know what she was or what she'd done. They were only watching in bewilderment as she peeled off layer after layer of clothing—her desperate lines of defense against the cold. Once she was done, there was a pile of Gortex, fur, and wool on the seat next to her that was half her height. Even the humans here thought that it was overkill.

Lex tried to smooth down her frizzy curls of black hair, but it was useless. The static electricity that had built up underneath her hat was a force to be reckoned with. Reece used to say that it was cute, but she just found it irritating that her hair resembled lengths of twine from October to May.

She tapped her heels nervously, wishing that she hadn't had so much caffeine earlier. She'd developed an addiction to diet soda over the past few months and now, with everything going to hell, Lex found herself drinking entire bottles of it per day.

It was obviously unhealthy, but she wasn't exactly the queen of good coping skills. And besides, she was immortal. She doubted the aspartame could take her down.

The door opened again and a gust of icy wind infiltrated the warmth of the café as Karissa came inside. She looked stunning, as always. The cold air seemed to enhance her perfect complexion and gave her cheeks the kind of flushed glow that makeup companies would kill to bottle. Her short, chestnut hair wasn't disheveled from a hat or from the wind. And of course, the girl's smile was bright and engaging. Karissa was the only human that Lex had met whose beauty made even Night People envious.

Alexandra glowered at the girl. It wasn't her friend's appearance that she envied, but her ability to actually enjoy the weather here. It seemed insane to her.

Once Karissa spotted her, she headed over to the table. Ogling the pile of winter gear next to Alexandra, she laughed. "How long does it take you to put all of that on?" she asked as she sat down.

"Not as long as it would take to grow back a limb lost to frostbite," Lex replied.

The girl smiled. "It's not that bad out. Did you grow up in Hawaii or something?"

Lex tried to keep her gaze steady and her expression neutral. There were only two people alive who knew about her past and Karissa was not one of them.

When she'd moved to Montreal with him, Reece had helped her create a fictitious past. Even the most trusted members of his team did not know that she was a made vampire who had been changed at the age of thirteen. They didn't know that she'd been a slave for twenty-seven years, eight months, three weeks, and two days. They didn't even know that Reece had been involved in the DC mission over a year ago in which one Wild Power was killed and another one—Alexandra—had been created.

No, the Lex that Karissa knew was a lamia that had simply decided to stop aging at thirteen because she was quirky. Because it was fun to be young. Her fake life had been a happy one, albeit a dull one.

Would that it were true.

"St. Petersburg, Florida," Alexandra replied calmly.

"That explains it," Karissa said with an amused laugh.

She braced herself for more questions, trying to remember the details she'd made up with Reece, but when her friend started to look around the café, Lex relaxed. She was in the clear.

"Did you order anything?" the human girl asked.

"No, I just got here."

Karissa stood up. "Okay. Well, let me buy you a coffee."

"It's okay. You really don't have to," she protested. The last thing she needed was more caffeine.

"I insist," her friend said with a smile and sauntered up to the counter.

Lex sighed as she watched Karissa flirt shamelessly with the man working there. After all this time, that was something she still couldn't do with Reece. She had flirted constantly with Tristan, the vampire that had taken care of her until everything went to hell in Washington, DC. But she'd never told Tristan about her past. Reece, as her soulmate, had a front row ticket to the show every time he touched her. She couldn't be playfully sexy when he knew how she'd been used. She could say all the right words in the perfect coquettish voice, but she would be hollow inside and Reece would feel it.

After a few minutes Karissa came back to the table and set down three cups of coffee. "He didn't charge me for the third one," she said proudly.

"That's good, considering we don't need it," Lex replied, rolling her eyes. Even though she didn't want to drink it, the cup of coffee was hot, so she used it to warm her hands. And holding on to something would hide how badly her hands were shaking.

"Nick asked me to bring one back for him," Karissa explained. "He says the stuff I make is absolute crap."

"Does the guy at the counter know that he just paid for your boyfriend's coffee?"

"Nope," she replied cheerfully.

Lex shook her head with a laugh. "How is Nick doing, by the way?"

Nick Camden was a member of Reece's team. Three weeks earlier, a Night World vampire had attacked him while he'd been patrolling the streets. He had suffered some severe internal bleeding, but had still managed to take out the vampire. He was Reece's disciple through and through.

The human girl grinned. "Well enough to take advantage of the situation by asking me to do every last thing for him. Make him eggs, fluff his pillow, hand him the TV remote that is mere inches away. He'll be back on his feet, hopefully annoying Reece instead of me, in another few days."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Thanks."

And then Lex couldn't think of any more small talk. She and Karissa were friends, but they'd never been close. It was hard for her to get close to anyone when she had to keep so much of herself hidden. She usually tried to maintain a comfortable distance between herself and other people so that they wouldn't realize how much they didn't know about her. To most of Reece's team, she was only known as "the boss's girlfriend" or "Cahill's soulmate". She quietly blended into the background.

An awkward silence fell between Lex and Karissa as each of them sipped their coffee and waited for the other to mention the real reason they were meeting. After an uncomfortable minute, Alexandra finally forced herself to do it. "Did you bring it?" she asked.

Karissa's smile faded. "Yes. But I don't think you should do this. It's a really bad idea."

Lex took a deep breath. She'd been expecting a last minute lecture. "Probably," she agreed. "But I don't have a choice."

"Yes, you do. You can stay here and talk to Reece. You guys can work things out."

Alexandra effortlessly concealed how much Karissa's words hurt. She was an expert at masking her pain. "You're right," she said reasonably. "We probably could, but that doesn't mean it's what's best for him."

The girl set down her cup and leaned her elbows on the table as she rubbed her temples. "Honey, you're not making any sense."

No, Lex knew that her words wouldn't make sense to someone who didn't know the truth about her, who didn't understand how toxic she was. Well, she wasn't about to get into it now.

"You can't tell me that you haven't seen it," she said to Karissa. "He's different. When we first met, he was open and sincere. He knew what he was about. Now I don't even know who he is any more. I only know that he changed because of me."

"He's the team leader. People's lives are his responsibility. Of course he's bound to get stressed out now and then. I've seen it before. How could it possibly be your fault?"

Lex shrugged. "It's hard to explain."

Karissa pursed her lips, obviously annoyed at Alexandra's vague responses. "Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"More or less. It's like talking to a wall." And god knows that she understood walls only too well. In fact, she was sure that Reece had learned a few of his tricks from her. The witch that she'd met in D.C. knew next to nothing about shutting people out.

"I just don't understand," Karissa said. Her frustration was palpable. Lex had the feeling that the girl wanted to get up and shake her senseless. "You guys are soulmates. Can't you just zap into his mind?"

"No," Alexandra snapped before she could stop herself. Then she took a deep breath and softened her voice. "We've promised each other that we wouldn't use the link like that."

"But…it's just…"

"I know," she whispered. "I didn't want to accept it either. That's the only reason I've stayed this long. But I can't be here any more."

Karissa shook her head sadly. Then she reached into her purse and threw a large, yellow envelope onto the table. "Here," she said. "New ID, passport, cash."

Lex checked to make sure that everything was there. "Thanks for doing this."

"I probably shouldn't have. Nick is going to kill me when he finds out."

"I won't tell anyone," she assured the girl. She didn't want to mention the fact that there wouldn't even be anyone for her to tell once she was gone. Lex was going to live the kind of life that she should've had since the night her maker had left her for dead—a solitary one.

"When Reece finds out that you're gone, he's going to figure out that you couldn't have gone off the map without some help. Who do you think he's going to question first?"

"He won't try to find me," Lex said softly. Oh, he might be concerned about her safety because she was a Wild Power, but he knew that she'd spent time over the past year learning to use her powers. She could do a fairly decent job of protecting herself. When Reece realized that he was free of her, she believed that he would be relieved.

Alexandra only hoped that once she was gone, he could once again be the witch that he'd been before he had met her.

Karissa reached out and placed her hand on top of Lex's. "How can you say that?" she asked incredulously. "He loves you. Don't you know that?"

She could only stare at her friend's hand.

There had been a time when she'd been tempted to believe that. For a short while after he'd brought her to Montreal, they had both seemed happy. It was something that she hadn't felt since she was a human child. It had been terrifying, but Reece had made her feel safe.

Some nights, when she'd woken up screaming after having a dream about her maker, he would gather her into his arms and hold her tightly. He'd whispered assurances into her ear as she'd wept with fear, sure that her maker would come for her now that she had so much to lose. And on those nights, when she'd been drifting off to sleep in his arms, she would think that maybe he wouldn't put up with all of her shit if he didn't love her.

But those nights seemed so long ago now.

Lex forced herself to smile bravely at Karissa. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to worry about her. And she certainly didn't want anyone to try to convince Reece to go after her once she'd left. She needed to act as if making the decision was a relief. She needed to act like she wanted to leave him. She couldn't let anyone see that her heart was breaking. "That's nice of you to say. But don't worry about me. I'm going to be all right. He is too."

The human girl looked dejected. But she wasn't nearly as disconsolate as Lex was. "Is there anything I can say that will change your mind?"

_Tell me that Reece needs me as much as I need him. Tell me that he can't live without me. That my leaving him would destroy him rather than save him. Tell me that I'm crazy and that everything is perfect._

"No," she replied firmly. "Nothing."

Karissa sat back in her chair, as if conceding defeat. "Where will you go?"

"I don't know." Then Lex glanced at the cold, colorless world beyond the window. "Somewhere warm."


	2. Lonesome

Lex kept the apartment at a balmy seventy-eight degrees in the winter. Even so, it took a few minutes to shake off the chill from outside after she had slammed the door behind her.

"Reece? You home?" she called out, even though she already knew the answer. Her soulmate had left Montreal the day before. He hadn't told her where he was going, when he would be back, or what he was doing. As he'd packed his suitcase, he'd given her the same explanation that he'd been doling out for months now: "Daybreak business."

How she had begun to hate that phrase.

Alexandra pulled off her boots and left them by the door as she walked back towards the bedroom.

Their apartment wasn't much. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room with a miniscule kitchen attached to it. They had chosen to sleep in the smaller of the two bedrooms so that the larger one could be used as an office. With various members of the team always coming and going, it made the most sense.

Lately when Reece was actually home, however, he spent hours upon hours in there alone—with the door shut. He didn't answer her knocks, her calls to tell him that she'd made dinner, her pleas to come to bed. When he was in there, he might as well have been gone.

Lex wished that she could zap into his mind, as Karissa had suggested. But she knew how much she hated it when things had been ripped from her mind without her consent. It had been done to her for years and it nearly destroyed her.

No, Reece's mind was his own and violating that would mean that she'd become the thing that she loathed. If he wanted her to know what he was doing or what was wrong with him, then he would tell her.

Once in her bedroom, Alexandra opened the closet door. Pushing her collection of wool sweaters aside, she reached deep into the back for her summer clothes. They were wrinkled, but she didn't care.

To her surprise, a spark of excitement ignited inside of her as she started to pile her T-shirts and shorts into her bag. It was the rush of anticipation. She was going somewhere warm. God help her, she never wanted to be cold again.

Reece had been so warm once. Even the first time they'd met, when he'd believed that she had callously murdered a Wild Power, she'd been struck by his kindness. When they had realized that they were soulmates, he'd offered himself to her openly. And he had waited patiently as Lex slowly let down her own walls, trusting that he wouldn't hurt her.

The witch she'd once known didn't know how to hurt anyone. Not really.

When had things changed?

The question haunted her. It had happened too slowly for her to pinpoint it. All she knew was that, as time went by, he spoke less and less. He started to get lost in his thoughts, always preoccupied with something terribly private and terribly important. By degrees, her soulmate had become…colder.

The first time that she had truly noticed it, she'd been in bed with Reece. They had just gotten back from a night out—dinner and a movie. As she was falling asleep, she'd realized that he hadn't tried to kiss her that night. And then, with a sudden sense of dread, she'd realized that she couldn't remember the last time that he had kissed her. It had been so long.

After that, Lex had tried to talk to Reece about it. Awkwardly tripping over her words, she had told him that she was afraid they were drifting apart. He had assured her that everything was fine and had given her a peck on the cheek.

Then the mysterious "Daybreak business" trips had started. He'd been on six of them so far and sometimes it was weeks before he got back. If he really was on Daybreak missions, then Lex assumed that they never went well because he was always in a horrible mood when he got back. Sadly enough, that was the one thing that prevented her from believing that Reece was cheating on her on those trips. Surely if he had just returned from a week of mind-blowing sex with a mistress, he would be slightly less irritable.

Lex sniffed as she folded her last shirt and rubbed her nose roughly. She couldn't afford to cry now. If she started, she might not have the courage to go through with this. She had to concentrate on where she was going, on the anticipation. She had to think of warm breezes, hot sand, and waves crashing on the shore. The endless rhythm of the sea would comfort her. It always had, even as a child.

In the bathroom, she dug through the cabinet underneath the sink for her makeup bag. She normally didn't like wearing the stuff, but it made her look older. The ID that Karissa had made for her claimed that she was eighteen—old enough to travel anywhere she wanted, get a job, and rent an apartment. But to pull it off, she needed to paint four more years onto her face, which was eternally frozen at fourteen.

Foundation first. Then a gray shadow to blend with the bright blue color of her eyes. Light eyeliner—too much of it and she would be taken for a typical teenager trying to be trendy. Thin coat of mascara. No blush. Matte lipstick.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Not bad. With some sophisticated clothing and the weariness in her eyes, Lex thought that she could pull it off. But if her ID was questioned, she just hoped that a few twenty-dollar bills slipped under the table would get her by.

She went back to the bedroom and sat down heavily on the bed. Alexandra withdrew the stack of cash from the envelope that Karissa had given to her and she counted it twice. After putting four hundred dollars in her purse, she threw the rest of it into her bag.

She had inherited an enormous sum of money from Tristan when he died. He used to keep it all stashed around their flat in Georgetown and she'd taken it when she left Washington. Of course, Reece hadn't liked the fact that Tristan had stolen most of the money from humans that he'd killed, but getting rid of it seemed asinine. So Lex had left it untouched in the bank until now.

Looking back on it, she wondered if she had saved the money because she'd somehow known that she would have to leave Reece one day. Faith was something that didn't come easily to her. Part of her always needed an escape route—a back-up plan—because she knew better than anyone how horrific it was to be trapped.

Zipping her bag closed, Lex realized that there was nothing left for her to do but leave. And she felt profoundly sad. In her life, she'd often felt depressed, angry, hateful, terrified, sick, disgusted, defensive, wrathful. But she couldn't remember a time when she had felt so sublimely sad before.

It was strange, but she thought that the past year and a half with Reece had given her a sense of clarity. Her emotions used to be a tangled web that pulled her in every direction at once. She hadn't been able to discern anger from hate or fear. Everything was threatening, everything hurt. But she felt things more purely now. Her emotions had become less confusing when she stopped fighting them. She knew her own mind in a way that she'd never had before.

At that moment, Alexandra knew damn well that she didn't want to leave here. She only wanted her soulmate back—the one that she'd met in D.C. But hell, she didn't even know where he was. She couldn't just sit around the apartment while Reece drifted further and further away from her. At least if she left him now, it wouldn't be so painfully drawn out. It would be done.

Still, maybe she could sit here for just a little while longer…

Lex lay down on her side and pulled her knees into her chest.

What did it matter, after all, if she left tonight or tomorrow morning?

She closed her eyes, squeezing out a single tear. It slid across her temple and dripped onto the bed sheets.

Just one more night. Just a few more hours of breathing in Reece's scent, pretending that everything was all right. If she relaxed her mind, she could almost imagine that her soulmate was next to her.

Fully clothed, with her bag lying on the bed next to her, Alexandra fell asleep.

The shrieking ring of the phone startled her awake several hours later.

It was dark outside and a glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand told her that it was well past midnight.

Her brain was muddled. For a moment, she forgot what had woken her up. But then the phone rang again and Lex rolled over to answer it.

"Hello?" she said, her voice muted with sleep. She rubbed her eyes.

There was no answer.

"Hello?" she said again.

Silence.

Lex sat up slightly, suddenly alert, and listened intently. There was someone on the other end of the line. She could hear the person's breath and was sure that the person could hear hers as well. That was why he stayed on the line, she thought. To listen to her.

Her heart started to pound. How many horror movies started out like this?

She tried to calm herself down. She was a vampire. If this was a horror movie, a monster like her certainly wouldn't be the victim.

"What do you want, you perverted asshole?" she asked in a nasty voice.

The caller said nothing.

Alexandra sneered. "Fuck you," she snapped, then slammed the phone down on the receiver. She lay back down, hoping that she'd just burst the caller's eardrums.

She closed her eyes again, but they opened almost of their own volition. Her heartbeat was still roaring in her ears. There was no way that she would be able to fall back asleep now, but she still felt too tired and sad to get up. So she stared into the darkness of her room as she waited for the sun to rise.

* * *

The girl lay next to him on her side, resting her head on one hand while the long fingernails of her other hand trailed up and down his bare chest. It teased him and irritated him, but he didn't bother trying to stop her. It didn't really matter.

It felt hot in his apartment tonight. Stuffy. The smoke from his cigarettes had formed a soft cloud that took on a yellow hue in the lamplight. He wanted to open a window, but the December air in Buffalo, New York would have been too cold for the girl that he'd brought home.

She was beautiful—tall and lean, with supple skin. Her ash-blonde hair had been silky when he'd run his fingers through it on the street. Her blue eyes looked wide with innocence—a ploy that she had probably spent hours in front of a mirror perfecting. But as striking as she was, he couldn't care less.

"Her birthday is today," he was saying. "She would have been twenty-one." He sighed tiredly as he tried to ignore the way the girl's fingernails tickled him. "I wonder if she would have let me take her out to a bar. She could be so uptight. Sometimes she used to say that she didn't understand the point of drinking. If you couldn't have fun without being drunk, then there was something wrong with you."

The girl at his side snorted. "Sounds annoying, if you ask me."

Aiden St. Helen gave her an icy stare to remind the girl that he hadn't asked for her opinion. He might have cut her tongue out for saying such a thing if he didn't agree with her. "I thought so all the time," he admitted. "Eve was always too mature for her own good. I think she had the soul of a fifty-year old even when she was a child. But it came with the territory, I guess." He shrugged slightly. "I wasn't much better. All work and no play."

"Mmm, that makes Jack a dull boy," the girl purred into his ear. Her breath was warm on his cold skin, but the heat only glided over the surface, never seeping into him. The winter had claimed Aiden long ago.

He smiled in spite of himself. "Oh, never dull. I can promise you that." If nothing else, the Night World was at least interesting.

The girl's hand slid down his flat, muscled stomach, stopping at the waist of his jeans. She was getting impatient. Aiden could hear snippets of the frustrated thoughts flitting in her mind, even though her glossy, sinful lips were still curled into a smile. She started to touch him through his clothes. His body responded, but he barely felt it.

In the first few months after Eve had died, Aiden had refused to allow himself to think about her. The guilt and the grief were simply more than he could take. Every time he imagined her eyes or her smile, he ached to thrust a stake into his own heart just to end his torment. And he couldn't do that. So he'd believed that only way for him to continue his existence was to forget hers.

He realized soon enough that that was impossible. Sometimes he would become mesmerized by the glitter of the stars or the ripples in a puddle as it rained. When he saw beggars in the streets, he would feel a crushing pain in his chest that wouldn't dissipate until he'd given them all of the cash he had in his pockets.

Eve had infected his soul. Even in death, she was a part of him.

So he withstood the pain. Somehow he continued to breathe even when the pain was choking him. He resisted the lures of the haze that starvation offered and the delirium that he knew would come after a slaughter. He didn't drink or take any drugs, and he forced himself out of bed on days when he desperately wanted to avoid the world. For the first time in his life, Aiden forced himself to feel. And damn it, it was killing him.

"Her soul may have seemed old, but there was more to her," he said thoughtfully as the girl in his bed continued to stroke him. "She could be playful. Cute. She had these fluffy, pink slippers that she couldn't live without. And she painted her toenails ridiculous colors every few days. She baked batches of cookies and brownies just to see people smile. Simple things made her happy."

He remembered how all of those things had confounded him. Aiden had always been obsessed with some goal, working towards some end. He'd never understood how such useless details could bring her so much pleasure. The only simple thing he'd ever enjoyed that much was killing. But then, even his kills tended to be elaborate. That was why Circle Daybreak had nicknamed him "Hellraiser".

"How did she die?" the girl with him asked.

Aiden surprised himself when he answered her. He usually didn't answer questions about her death. "She killed herself," he said, which was close enough to the truth.

"How long ago?"

He swallowed. "Next Saturday it'll be nineteen months."

"You poor baby," the girl cooed. She rolled over so that part of her body was on top of him. "And she's the only girl that you ever cared for?"

Aiden opened his mouth to say yes, but the word froze on his lips. There was another girl that he cared for, though he never wanted to admit it. To do that seemed like pissing on Eve's ashes. But he couldn't lie to himself about it and that meant that Eve, wherever her spirit was, probably already knew.

"There was someone," he murmured, "that I liked. But she was already taken. And it wouldn't have been right, after Eve."

"Well, you know what they say." The girl lifted her perfectly-shaped eyebrows and smiled. Her voice fell to a husky whisper. "All's fair in true love and war."

He laughed bitterly. "Trust me, baby," he said. "Nothing is ever fair. Love and war, life and death—everything is fucked."

"Mm. You're so jaded. Isn't there anything I can do to make you feel better? Do you want me to pretend to be one of those girls?" The girl pressed her lithe body against him and her blonde, curly hair fell onto his chest.

Seeing her curls shine in the light of his bedside lamp, Aiden stiffened.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked.

"Your hair…"

She brushed it back from her face. "What about it?"

He thought that he had chosen this girl because she was blonde, like Eve had been, but her spiral curls were exactly like Alexandra's. Only the color was different.

Shit. What the hell was he doing?

"Nothing," he said shortly, shaking his head.

The girl sighed, dropping her hand limply on his chest. Her gleaming smile disappeared. "Look, buddy," she said. All of the seductive warmth in her voice was gone. "Are we going to have sex or what? You know I charge by the hour, right?"

Aiden rubbed his face and sat up, letting the girl fall off of him and onto the bed. "No," he said gruffly. "I don't want to have sex."

The girl pushed herself up and leaned against the headboard. "Then what the hell did you bring me up here for?"

The corner of his mouth lifted in a self-effacing half-smile. "Conversation?"

"For fuck's sake, get a shrink!" The girl rolled off the bed and crouched down to pick up her strappy high heels.

"I have far more respect for your profession," Aiden said dryly. "Not to mention the fact that prostitutes tend to be better listeners than psychiatrists."

"Yeah, well, you'd better pay me," she snapped. "I didn't waste two hours on you just to hear you moan about your dead girlfriend."

He laughed. "Not to mention that prostitutes are far more honest than shrinks." Then with inhuman speed, he threw himself at her, grabbing her neck and slamming her against the wall before she even saw him coming. The girl paled in terror as she gasped for breath. "But if you ever disrespect Eve again, I will rip your pretty throat out. Understand?"

She nodded her head rapidly and Aiden let her go. Then, as quickly as he had pounced on her, he moved across the room to stare out the window. It gave her a fairly obvious hint that he wasn't human, but he didn't give a damn. He had stopped playing by the Night World rules the moment that Eve had died.

He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a wad of hundred dollar bills. Throwing them on the bed, he looked at her. "I hope this was as good for you as it was for me, baby. You can go now."

Aiden turned back to the window and listened as the girl grabbed the money off the bed and made a mad dash to the door. Then he smiled in grim satisfaction. Eve definitely wouldn't have approved of him scaring the girl like that, but Eve was dead. And besides, he'd paid the girl three times as much as she charged.

Once she was gone, he walked over to his fridge and pulled out a bottle of Diet Coke, carrying it back with him to the couch. He sat back, drinking the soda in huge gulps. It was one of the better parts about living alone, he thought—being able to drink anything he wanted straight from the bottle.

He had never really lived by himself before. While he'd been working for the Night World, he'd always been in a coven of sorts. And then when he'd been a mole in Circle Daybreak, he'd lived in a compound with hundreds of other people.

The vampire that he'd once been would have preferred the silence and the solitude, but now Aiden didn't enjoy it much. As sad as it was, this wasn't the first time that he had sought out the company of a prostitute just to listen to him talk. He couldn't afford to make any real acquaintances. There were too many people in both Circle Daybreak and the Night World who would love to see him dead.

_How far the great and untouchable Hellraiser has fallen…_

The words of his former Night World employer, Angie Catallini, ran through his mind nearly every day. Sometimes it angered him, but other times he could only laugh because it was so true.

Aiden St. Helen had once been a cold and driven vampire. He'd only cared about acquiring power, both for him and for his vampire race. Then, being the arrogant bastard that he was, he'd tried to kill a Wild Power—a Daybreak witch who also happened to be his soulmate. As she lay dying in his hands, he had felt her love for him. And his own love for her. It tore him to pieces. He ran from her, leaving her coughing and choking on the floor.

Even after that, he might have been able to put himself back together; Angie had had a strong hold on him and he'd had nowhere else to go. But then he'd watched his Eve gratefully give her life to another. In that moment, everything that he'd ever been was obliterated.

Now he sat on a frayed couch in a tiny, dirty apartment with nothing but regrets.

He wondered sometimes if this was really what Eve would have wanted for him. It wasn't exactly living. But even though she had forgiven him for the pain that he'd caused her, he couldn't help thinking that his life now was far better than he deserved.

Still, he wished all too often that he could end it. That he could throw himself out of a window and onto a picket fence. He knew that Eve's wishes should have been reason enough to stay alive, but they weren't. If that were all that he had, Aiden would have killed himself months ago.

There was only one thing stopping him. Just four little words that made him back up from the window every time: _I like you, too._

He didn't know why he clung to Alexandra Harper's words after all this time. He couldn't say why they meant so much to him. They had a strong, physical connection—a soulmate link that had been forged when Lex had taken Eve's life—but the true emotional bond of the soulmate principle was lacking. Still, they liked each other. They understood each other. Even the first time that they had met, he had felt a strange kinship with her. And he realized that every time he went out in search of company, what he really wanted was to talk to Alexandra.

On a sudden impulse, Aiden grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table. Months ago he'd hacked into Circle Daybreak's database to see if anyone in the organization was on to his location. Searching through the information on active members, he had stumbled upon Reece Cahill's address and phone number. Of course, he knew that that was also Lex's phone number and he'd memorized it on sight. Just in case.

Just in case of what, he didn't know.

Without stopping to think, he dialed the number. His heart damn near stopped when he heard her answer. Her voice was thick, as if he had woken her up.

"Hello?" she said again.

His words caught in his throat. He suddenly didn't know why he had called or what to say. All he could do was listen to her breathe.

"What do you want, you perverted asshole?" she asked.

That was Lex all the way. Aiden would have laughed if he could.

"Fuck you," she snapped and slammed the phone down in his ear.

Hearing the loud click, he felt like he had snapped out of a trance. He stared at his cell phone as if he didn't know how it had gotten into his hand, and then he threw it across the room.

What the hell was wrong with him? Alexandra had a life and a soulmate. He couldn't interfere with that. What had he been hoping to accomplish?

And he had a soulmate of his own whom he had an obligation to honor. Eve may be dead, but he could never betray her. Not again.

With a heavy sigh, Aiden raised his bottle of soda in a toast and looked up. "Happy Birthday, Eve," he whispered.

* * *

_Huge thanks to my wonderful reviewers._

_incarnated-soul: How I love your page-long reviews. I read them grinning like an idiot. So many questions, girl! Heh, give me a few chapters to answer them, okay:)_

_CalliopeMused: It's never a bad thing to squeal like a girl at a new story. Hehe._

_Darklight Shadow: Thanks so much. Don't be too critical of Lex. She has her reasons for what she's doing._


	3. Stolen Car

Stalking a stalker wasn't an easy task. Reece Cahill had been at it for a year and a half now with nothing to show for it but a series of false leads and near misses. A saner man would have given up by now. A wiser man would have asked for help long ago. A better man wouldn't have started this hunt in the first place.

Reece groaned. He was waxing philosophical again and that meant that he ought to get some sleep. Unfortunately, he still had a lot of data to sort through. The credit card receipts had led him here, to upstate Vermont, but it would take more research to help him pinpoint his target's exact location. That is, if the target was really here.

The vampire he was tracking was currently using the name Grayson Raynes, but Reece knew that he'd used several other names in the past. Kyler Stone. Erik Loninger. Nolan Calleros. And of course, the name that Angela Catellini told him at the beginning of his quest: Zarek Kakopoios.

Because he had several identities, Reece was unsure of his target's most basic information. Grayson Raynes was supposedly twenty-seven years old, while Erik Loninger was thirty-five. Black hair, blonde hair, blue eyes, hazel eyes. Short, tall. Light skin, olive skin, dark skin. The details always clashed with one another. Zarek Kakopoios was a chameleon.

Thankfully, in this day and age even chameleons left a paper trail. That seemed to be the target's most notable weakness. According to various sources, he was anywhere from four hundred to three thousand years old. He was an Old World vampire. And Reece deduced that the technological changes of the past fifty years had happened too rapidly for Zarek to grasp. He left too many loose ends.

When the words on the police report in front of him blurred together, Reece rubbed his dry eyes. He shouldn't have come down here so soon. He could have done this excruciatingly tedious work back home in his office. Instead he was sitting on a bed that sank so deeply under his weight that his pile of papers kept spilling into the depression. And for the third time that day, he was trying to ignore the loud moans from the couple in the room next door. The walls here were just too thin.

Reece threw down his highlighter and leaned back on the bed. Goddess, he was tired. And lonely, even though he really wasn't all that far from home. He'd chased Zarek all around the country and had even flown to Europe a few times. But now he was barely more than a hundred miles away from Montreal, from Lex.

So why did she feel so far away?

Of course, he already knew the answer. He had shut her out months ago. He knew that. And ven though he lamented it, he knew that it was for the best right now. As soon as Zarek was dead, Reece could let go of him and leave the past alone. He could finally think about a future.

But for now, he had to work.

He turned his attention back to the police reports and began to comb through them again. In the last month there were fourteen people reported missing in this region of Vermont. About half of them were males, a third were out of the age range that Zarek normally preyed on, so that left only two possible victims. And, as it happened, both of those girls had already been found—one dead and the other alive.

Reece had to remind himself that this was a good thing. If Zarek was in the area stalking another victim, then he hadn't taken her yet. There was still time to stop him. But unfortunately it didn't give Reece much information to work with in order to find him.

Damn it, he wanted to kill this bastard. The hate in him was so pure that it frightened him. He was a witch, a healer. Hate was not something that he normally practiced. But Zarek…when Reece found him, he was going to do the same illegal spell on him that he'd done on Angie Catellini. The vampire would feel the slow, agonizing pain of crumbling into dust. And that would still be better than he deserved.

For centuries Zarek had preyed on young girls from every walk of life. Once he took her, he changed the girl into a vampire to prevent her from aging, and then he used her for his own gratification. He shared her with others, passed her around like a toy. He debased her in every way imaginable—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Then, when the girl was broken and shattered, utterly dependent on him, he killed her and moved on to another.

Reece had seen it all in Alexandra's mind. Zarek had tortured her for twenty-seven years. As her soulmate, Reece witnessed it every time he touched her.

He still remembered how badly he'd panicked at the hate and rage that had seized him after the first time he'd touched her. But that was nothing compared to what he felt now, after researching the vampire's carnage for over a year. If he didn't kill Zarek, Reece was afraid that the hate would eat him alive.

The cell phone on his nightstand vibrated and the loud, buzzing noise startled him. He grabbed his phone and glanced at the caller ID before answering.

"Karissa, what's up?" he asked without preamble.

"Well, hi to you, too, Cahill," she said sarcastically.

He winced. "Sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm a little busy right now."

"Busy with what?"

"Daybreak business." It was his standard lie. No one on his team could know about his personal vendetta. They knew next to nothing about Alexandra as it was, and Reece intended to keep it that way. Lex herself didn't even know what he was doing. She had made some peace with the past and he had no right to drag her back into it.

"You haven't brought anything to us. Why don't you delegate some of the work, Cahill? That's what a team is for."

"I can't," he said wearily. "Daybreak gave this job to me. It's classified."

"Is that right?" Karissa asked in a mocking tone. "Classified like the job you took last year that killed Nick's sister?"

Reece inhaled sharply, feeling like he'd been punched in the stomach. How dare she bring up Beth like that? The lamia had been Nick's half-sister, but she'd also been Reece's closest friend. And he still blamed himself for her death. It killed him that he couldn't tell Nick or anyone else on the team what had happened to her, but it was essential that the details of the DC mission be kept confidential. Lex's life depended on it.

The fate of the world depended on it.

He ground his teeth and tried to swallow down the pain. Karissa had every reason to lash out at him. He was the team leader back in Montreal, but the truth was that he hadn't been leading it for months. Karissa wasn't the only one who was frustrated with how preoccupied he'd become.

Normally, he would have understood that, but his fuse was shorter these days than it had ever been. "Look," he said coldly, "I want to get back to work. Did you want something?"

There was a long pause on her end. "What is the matter with you lately?" she asked with exasperation. "You're blowing off your team, you're blowing off your soulmate, and you're—"

"Excuse me?" Reece snapped. "What do you mean, I'm blowing off my soulmate?" Goddess knows that everything he'd been doing over the last eighteen months was for Lex.

She sighed. "Nothing."

He rubbed his eyes, trying to stay calm. Karissa was a pathological meddler. She was the type of girl who loved to gossip and match-make. When one of her friends was having a problem, she rushed headlong into it, ready to fix it even if she hadn't been asked. If she was bringing up Alexandra now, then she had probably heard something about her from a friend of a friend of a friend. Whatever it was, he needed to quash the rumors right now. He couldn't afford to have anyone talking about Lex.

"Don't play this game with me, Karissa," he said. "This is reason you called, right? So just spit it out."

Reece could imagine the girl biting her lip as if she was actually debating whether or not to say anything to him. They both knew that she didn't have any intention of minding her own business. "It's just…I'm worried about you and about Lex. I think you should come home."

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her. She just, you know…she misses you. She needs you here."

Warmth surged through him, sweet and unexpected. "She said that?" he asked when he found his voice again.

"Well, pretty much."

Alexandra missed him. Even after a year and a half, it still meant so much to him to hear that. He just wasn't sure why it was so surprising.

Reece glanced back at the pile of papers on his lap and sighed. "I'll be home as soon as I finish this. Can you tell her that?"

"Why don't you tell her yourself? Call her right now."

He wanted to. Goddess, he wanted to, but he just couldn't talk to her right now. He was too on edge and he didn't want her to know. After all of the hell that she had been through, she deserved a calm, stable, well-adjusted soulmate. "I don't want to wake her up. When you see her tomorrow, could you tell her I'll be back soon?"

"Fine," Karissa ground out. He could practically see the girl rolling her eyes at him. "Just don't make a liar out of me, Cahill."

"I won't," he swore.

The human girl was quiet for a moment. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. About Beth."

"Yeah, I know. It's all right."

"We need you back here, Cahill. All of us."

When Reece hung up, he felt truly awake for the first time in days. He went back to his stack of papers, his vision sharp and his mind clear. It was past time that he had finished this. Alexandra missed him, his team needed him, and he had just made a promise to them all that he was damn well going to keep.

* * *

The hum of the bus was soothing. Alexandra hated to fly and the train ride to New York City would have been almost ten hours, so she had decided to take the Greyhound out of Montreal. Curled up on her seat with a blanket wrapped around her as the grayish landscape of Quebec passed by, she almost felt content.

Then she shifted to put her feet up on the empty seat next to her and she froze.

The middle-aged woman in the seat across the aisle was staring at her again. The woman hadn't fallen for Alexandra's make-up job, like the man at the ticketing desk had, and she was wondering why a young, teenage girl was traveling to New York alone in the middle of the night. She suspected that Lex was running away and she was taking note of her features in case she heard something on the news about a young girl from Montreal disappearing.

Of course, an intuitive human would have known what the woman was doing by reading her gestures and any vampire would have known simply by reading her thoughts, but in that moment, Alexandra actually knew the reasons for her interest in a young runaway. The woman's only daughter had disappeared fifteen years ago was never found. She was memorizing Lex's appearance now as part of a lifelong quest to ensure that some other mother wouldn't have to go through the pain that she had.

Alexandra frowned and turned her head away from the woman, letting her curls fall into her face. It was a struggle to keep her breathing deep, to keep her fear from taking over.

She'd inherited the gift of enhanced telepathy from the vampire who had changed her. It was an ability that he had exploited in his slow destruction of her, and for years after she'd escaped from him, she'd been terrified of it. More than that, she'd hated herself for how much she liked using it. For most vampires, drinking blood from a human victim was the ultimate rush, but for Lex and others with similar powers, tasting a person's soul was far more intoxicating.

As hard as she tried to control it or ignore it, the power had a will of its own. It rose to the surface unexpectedly, thrusting her into the souls of others before she was even aware of what was happening. She was only starting to understand that it was useless to fight it. She had only recently realized that it could be used without hurting the other person or herself. Lex was beginning to see that the power usually only gave her useless information about random people—like the middle-aged woman watching her—and to know intimate details of a person's life did not necessarily mean that Alexandra was a monster. It did not mean that she was turning into her maker. It was taking her subconscious mind a long time to accept what her rational mind already knew, however. Change and acceptance were hard for her. It was difficult to relinquish a belief that had kept her safe—albeit, alone—for so long.

A sudden pain assaulted her. There was no reason for her to try to change any more. She was leaving Reece and wherever she ended up, Alexandra would be alone again. It wouldn't matter if she had learned to live with her power or not. The end result would be the same.

Lex sneered at herself. She hadn't escaped the control of a sadistic bastard for nothing, and she'd be damned if she was going to leave her soulmate for nothing. If she wanted to shut people out, she could have done that in Montreal. She and Reece really would have made an interesting pair, then—two strangers sharing an apartment who just happened to be soulmates.

No. Wherever she went, she could never allow herself to fall back into old habits. She and people she cared about had sacrificed too much.

The vent next to the window started to blow cold air on her face. It was only running to circulate the air, but she would never understand why buses, subways, and buildings, needed to pump in freezing air. It was winter, for crying out loud. A mixture of snow and sleet was falling outside.

Pulling her knees into her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, trying to stave off the shivers. Lex closed her eyes and imagined how warm the sun would feel as soon as she got further south. This was just a test of mind over matter. She could will herself to be warm.

Just as she started to relax her rigid hold on her knees, the bus jerked to the right, throwing her into the window next to her. A moment later, she was thrust towards the aisle and slid onto the floor as the driver tried to keep the bus from skidding off of the road. The human passengers cried out and suitcases toppled down from the overhead racks.

The bus slid again, tossing Alexandra like a rag doll back towards her seat. Her head slammed into the wall and she saw stars. It felt like the world around her was spinning. She kept falling, somehow tumbling through the ground, smashing into objects that she couldn't identify.

More cries filled the air, nearly drowned out by a metallic, ear-splitting shriek.

Then everything was silent and still.

When her vision cleared, Alexandra realized that she was lying on top of the large window and was pinned under an over-sized paisley suitcase. She was staring into the blank eyes of the elderly man that had been sitting in front of her. The world was on its side.

The bus had skidded on the slick, icy road and tipped over. Judging from the damage, it must have gone over more than once before it landed on its side.

Lex sat up slowly and saw that the two-dozen passengers had all fallen onto the window, which was now under them. A few people moved, trying to get up, and others were abnormally still.

She got onto her hands and knees, ignoring the way that her head spun, and felt for the pulse of the elderly man next to her. He still had one, though it seemed faint to her. Leaving him, she crawled over to the other passengers near her, checking each one to see if they were alive or dead.

Finally, she came upon a body that had landed on its stomach. Rolling it over, Alexandra recognized the middle-aged woman who had been watching her throughout the ride. She had a pulse, but she wasn't breathing.

On instinct, Lex tipped the woman's head back, pinched her nose, and breathed into her mouth, watching to make sure that her chest rose and fell. After two seconds, she breathed for the woman again. And again. And again.

She wasn't sure how many breaths it took, but the woman finally gasped and coughed violently. Then she looked up at Alexandra with glassy eyes.

The inside of the bus was chaotic as the other passengers cried and shouted. A few cars pulled over to the side of the highway to help. Sirens sounded in the distance. The wind howled. But Lex heard none of it through the thunderous pounding of her heart.

The woman was grateful. There was no mistaking it. Looking into her brown eyes, Lex was suddenly drowning in her gratitude. The air seemed saturated with it. With each breath, more and more of it diffused into her bloodstream. And every cell in her body rejected it.

She scrambled backward, breaking eye contact, but it did no good. The woman was still alive, still grateful. She was still looking at her as if Alexandra was a savior. As if she had done something right. As if she was a good person.

No one had ever looked at her like that.

She could deal with hate and disgust—those were the two emotions that she completely understood. She could handle lust—her maker and then her friend Tristan had taught her the power that her body could wield. And since she'd met Reece, she thought that she might be able to tolerate love. But the woman's gratitude was far more than she could bear. God damn it, she wasn't worthy of it. She wasn't. Alexandra was tempted to tear into the woman's throat and drain her dry just to prove her wrong.

Instead, she shot to her feet, grabbing her purse and duffel bag from where they had gotten tangled around the arm of a seat. Then, vaulting over the passengers that were huddled together, she ran to the front of the bus. Pausing long enough to thrust her foot through the windshield, she plunged through the shattered glass.

An ambulance screeched to a stop in front of her and she nearly knocked the driver over as he slid out of his seat. He called after her, but Lex didn't slow down and she didn't look back.

The road was icy under her boots and the sleet soaked through her coat in a matter of minutes. Her wet hair fell into her face, sticking to her clammy skin. She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to put more distance between her and the woman on the bus. She needed to get further and further away. Boosting herself over the guardrail on the side of the highway, she sprinted into the woods.

Alexandra had always been a good runner. During the first few months that she'd spent with her maker, she had waited for a chance to break away from him. She wouldn't have even needed a head start; all she'd needed was the opportunity, but he hadn't given her one. He'd been keeping slaves for centuries by then—long enough to perfect his game, to learn from his mistakes. His grip on her was like a vice and it wasn't until she was completely broken that he loosened it. By that time, she couldn't have imagined existing without him. He had become her world.

As vehemently as she would deny it, she knew that he was still a part of her. His blood and his power ran through her veins. He still took up space in her mind and his voice still hissed in her ear. And all these years later, Lex was still running from him, from what he had forced her to become.

_Out, damn'd spot!_

Miles away from the bus accident, she tripped over a large branch and fell to the ground. For a long while, she simply lay there, panting as the sleet drizzled down on her. As cold as it was, it was somehow still refreshing. Cleansing. The freezing water washed away her hot tears. Her fingers and toes had gone numb and the rest of her body wasn't far behind.

It felt too good. Lex had to force herself up before she fell asleep right there in the woods. She wouldn't die of hypothermia, no, but thawing herself out when she woke up would hurt like a sonofabitch.

She trudged through the woods until she reached a quiet, two-lane road. From how exhausted she felt, she guessed that she had run at least ten miles from the crash site. Her joints felt stiff and her wobbly legs seemed heavy. She had burned herself out.

After she had walked another mile or so down the road, Alexandra saw a sign for a motel and turned into the parking lot.

A gust of heat greeted her as she stepped inside the reservation office and her skin tingled painfully. The man behind the desk looked at her, aghast. "Are you all right, miss?" he asked. "Do you need me to call an ambulance?"

Lex touched her face and her fingers came away wet with cold water, makeup, and blood. She didn't know if she had gotten scratched up when the bus crashed or while she'd been racing through the woods. Frankly, she didn't care. "No," she replied wearily. "I just need a room."

The man looked uncomfortable. "You need to be eighteen to reserve a room. Is there someone that I can call to come get you?"

She dug through her purse for her new driver's license and set it down on the desk. "I am eighteen. Just give a room."

He spun the ID around so that he could examine it without picking it up. Then he stared at it for a long moment, swallowing a few times. Finally, he looked back at her. "Look, miss, this is a nice motel and we don't want any trouble—"

Alexandra snapped. She withdrew the remainder of the four hundred dollars that she'd been carrying in her purse and slammed it onto the desk. Turning her eyes on the man, she let him see the unnatural light that shone from them. "Give me a goddamn room, please," she whispered.

She let him go and the man reached under the desk for a key. "Room Twelve," he said with a hitched breath.

"Thank you very much." Lex snatched the key from him and started to storm out of the office. But through the door, she saw a mountain range in the distance. "Where the hell am I?" she asked the clerk without looking back at him.

"Phoenicia," he replied.

She made an impatient noise. "And where the hell is that?"

He hesitated before he answered her. "In the Catskills."

"Great," Lex grumbled as she pushed the door open and stepped back out into the sleet. "Just great."

* * *

_Thanks, once again, to my illustrious reviewers.._

_tracing-tt: Thanks for the review. It's really good to know that I have another reader out there!_

_CalliopeMused: I guess it's a good thing that I've got you riled up enough to want to smack my characters upside their heads. :) True, without common sense there would probably be no story.. but also, people aren't perfect. They don't always say what they mean or speak up when they should. I know I tend to avoid confrontation as much as Lex does. So I'm trying to stay true to their flaws, even if it's frustrating as hell. Hehe._

_Darklight Shadow: Heh, you think Aiden is stranger than before? I'd like to think that he's a little more well-adjusted than he was when he was trying to kill his soulmate. But really I think he's always going to be nuts._

_incarnated-soul: Haha, I will not apologize for making this tragic! And I can't promise that things will end happily for everyone--mostly because I have not gotten far enough along to see what the end will be. _


	4. Singular

"Who were you talking to?" a voice asked from behind her.

Startled, Karissa Gigena whipped around. Nick stood in the doorway of their kitchen, leaning heavily on his cane. He looked good for a guy who had been gutted only three weeks ago. He'd lost weight after being bedridden for so long and his clothes hung loosely off his frame, but he was starting to gain it back. His skin, while still pale, had finally lost its ghastly pallor, and his hazel eyes were sharp as he looked at her in his annoyingly perceptive way.

"What are you doing up?" Karissa demanded. "You're not supposed to be walking around like this."

The witch rolled his eyes and tapped his cane against the floor. "I'd hardly call this walking." He nodded to the cordless phone on the kitchen table. "Was that Cahill?"

She bit her lip anxiously—a nervous habit that she'd never been able to break. Oh no, not good. He must have heard her hanging up with Reece. "No," she replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. "It was a wrong number."

Nick looked at her skeptically. It really wasn't fair how easily he could read her when he wasn't even her soulmate. "Oh really?"

He limped over to the table and sat down, hooking his cane on the back of the chair. Karissa watched, pointlessly standing her ground, as he picked up the phone and checked the call log. "Strange," he said. "Because it says here that the last call was from here to Cahill's cell phone."

Damn modern technology.

"Oh," she stuttered. "That must have been earlier today. I tried, but I couldn't reach—"

"It says that the call was placed ten minutes ago."

Double damn. "Um, maybe the time is off."

"It isn't," Nick stated without even bothering to glance down at the phone to check. His eyes burned steadily into hers. "What's going on, Karissa?"

"Nothing," she replied, but her voice came out too high-pitched. She reached for a sponge by the sink and began to wipe down the counter—anything to avoid his probing stare. His hard eyes had intimidated information out of more Night World hostiles than she could remember, and she really hated it when he turned them on her like this. "I just…wanted to see where he was and when he was coming back."

He looked at her steadily for another long moment. "Okay. So why did you lie?"

Oh, screw it. There was no way she was going to get out of this. She tossed the sponge into the sink and then threw herself down in the chair next to him, running her fingers through her short hair. "I called him to tell him that I'm worried about Lex."

"Not that again," Nick groaned. He tilted his chair back, gripping the edge of the table for balance. "Whatever is going on between them is their business. Why do you have to keep sticking your nose in it?"

It wasn't like she'd had a choice this time. Lex was the one who had sought her out. The vampire girl had called a few days ago, asking her to make new IDs for her and to liquidate her bank account. When she had refused to do it without knowing why, Lex had begrudgingly told her that she was leaving Reece, and then she'd begged her not to tell anyone about it.

This was actually the longest that Karissa had ever kept a secret like this. She could handle not telling the world about her boyfriend being a witch or about the fact that they worked for Circle Daybreak—leaving that information on a need-to-know basis kept them alive. But when it came to something that could ruin a friendship or a relationship, she always felt compelled to speak up. Nick liked to call her a "Nosy Parker", whatever the heck that was, but it really wasn't her fault. It was just that her friends could be so stupid and stubborn. If she didn't take it upon herself to let the truth out and open the lines of communication, the team would have fallen apart several times over by now.

Still, there was something fragile about the vampire girl that had stopped Karissa from telling Nick or Reece the truth. She'd wanted to, of course, and she'd come close to letting the secret slip when she was on the phone with Reece. If he hadn't been too preoccupied to notice the telltale signs that she'd been hiding something from him, she probably would have let him pry the truth out of her. In the end, she had compromised by giving him a few hints without actually violating Lex's trust. Now she wished that she had just told him, if only to see what his reaction would have been. Because during her conversation with him, Karissa had realized that Lex was right. There was something wrong with him. He'd been cold and curt—nothing like the witch who had led their team for years.

Looking back on it, there were signs in the last few months that she should have picked up on. Moments when he'd snapped at her, team meetings that he'd cancelled, questions that he'd dodged—little things that she'd brushed off, thinking that he must have had a bad day, he must have been stressed out. Now, after talking to him and to his soulmate, she suspected that the reasons for the changes in him were not so simple.

Nick snapped his fingers in front of her face, jolting her out of her thoughts. "What?" she asked.

Her boyfriend sighed. "I asked you why you were so interested in Reece's relationship with Lex and you completely zoned out. You're not getting off that easily, Kar. I want an answer."

She met his eyes and bit her lip again.

"Oh no," he murmured. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

Karissa couldn't answer him, but she didn't need to. After spending two years in a relationship with her, the witch had learned to interpret her silences too well. "You've been keeping something from me, haven't you?"

After another non-answer from her, Nick's jaw dropped. "Goddess, it's something _huge_."

Okay, he was really getting riled up now. She opened her eyes wide, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Please don't be mad at me, but—"

"Ah, shit," he grumbled. "Here we go. Just tell me what it is already, before you give me an aneurism."

So much for her wide-eyed trick. "Lex is leaving Reece," she blurted out. "She may already be gone—she didn't tell me when she was planning to go. She just asked me to make some IDs for her and to get her some money."

Nick looked at her, aghast. "And you did it for her?" he asked in disbelief. "How could you be so stupid? Do you have any idea what this will do to Reece when he finds out?"

"I tried to talk her out of it, but Lex didn't even think that Reece would care if she left," Karissa exclaimed defensively.

"Do you honestly think that when he finds out that his soulmate has disappeared, he'll just say to himself, _Oh well, that was good while it lasted. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Now, I wonder what I should make for dinner?_"

"I don't know. Maybe. He's been out of it for months now and you know it. He hasn't called a team meeting in weeks—"

"I've been out of commission since the attack, and you've been taking care of me. He knows that. So maybe he just hasn't called us. Have you talked to Alyssa or Jase or Sorrentino?"

"Well. No," she stuttered. "But still, even before you were hurt he was acting weird. He's been working day and night on something he won't even tell us about."

"Kar, he's the leader. It's his right."

"Yeah, well, the last time he worked on something like this, Beth died," she snapped. Anger and hurt flashed in Nick's eyes, but she carried on heedlessly. "Cahill never even told us what really happened to her, and she was your sister. You have a right to know."

"I don't need to know," he snarled back. "I trust Reece. If he can't tell us, then he can't tell us. That's all there is to it."

"No, it's not. God, I hate when you get like this," she said in exasperation. "I hate that whole 'the-team-comes-first-and-we-must-obey-the-leader-without-question mentality. What the hell is up with that?"

"That's the way a team works. If you can't accept that, then you're in the wrong line of work."

She nearly slammed her fist down on the table. "Open your eyes, Nick. Use your head. Cahill's changed. Lex thinks that it's because of her, but I don't know. I think there's something else going on."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "But…something."

Nick curled his lip. "Oh, we'd better set up an intervention," he said sarcastically. "Cahill's been afflicted by _something_. And here I was afraid that you were going to be vague."

Karissa pushed her chair back roughly and stood up. "You know what? It doesn't matter if you agree with me or not. I wanted to be a friend to Lex, and that's all that I did. Cahill came back from D.C. with her over a year ago, and I don't think she's said more than ten words to any of us since then. I mean, Reece is like family and we know next to nothing about his soulmate. This was the first time that she's confided in me or anyone else on the team, and I was not about to ruin it. So yeah, Reece will probably be pissed, but he'll go after Lex and bring her back. And when he does, I want her to know that she has a friend."

"It'll be awfully hard to be her friend after Cahill kills you. Assuming that I don't kill you first."

"You?" she sneered. "You can't even walk on your own, you jerk."

That was it. If she fought with him any longer, she'd end up saying something she'd regret. Karissa started to storm out of the kitchen, but before she could reach the doorway, the room suddenly went dark. Slowly, she turned back around.

Nick was still sitting at the table, his pale face illuminated by a sliver of light from a lamp in the living room. His hazel eyes were luminescent. "I'm a witch," he said in a soft voice. "I don't need to walk."

She stared at him, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. His power was crackling in the air around them. "You want me to be afraid of you, Nick? You think you can scare me into apologizing with a few threats and a cheap light trick? Well, screw you. You can't control me, and if you really cared about me, you wouldn't want to."

"Don't try to turn this around, Kar," he said. His voice was still so soft that it almost frightened her. "You're the one who betrayed both Reece's trust and mine. And if we can't all trust each other, then we're as good as dead. I'll do what I have to do to make you understand that."

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away furiously. "Oh, I understand perfectly," she said in a ragged whisper. "I'm out of here."

Karissa walked out of the room with every ounce of dignity she could muster and grabbed her coat off the couch as she headed for the front door. Once she stepped outside into the cold air, shutting the door behind her, she broke into a run.

* * *

The night was crisp and quiet. Wisps of snowflakes coiled on icy winds and the bright, full moon shone in the dark sky. This was his favorite time of year, his favorite time of night—so late that most humans had long since fallen asleep.

He felt alone.

Singular.

A conscious mind amongst the useless, mundane dreamers.

The world was his.

Zarek turned the knob and pulled open the front door of Lindsay's house. The hinges squeaked loudly and he froze, listening for any sign that he might have woken the family.

After a few silent minutes had passed, he stepped into the living room.

Inside the house, Lindsay's scent was thick and heady. He could easily distinguish it from the scents of her parents and little brother. She smelled like rain, like sun, like the winter air. Her fragrance spoke of purity and innocence, and he began to salivate as he crept down the hallway.

This was an experiment. He had never before come this close to one of his quarry without being ready to take them, but tonight he would do just that. He would stand over Lindsay's sweet, sleeping body, do what he had come to do, and then he would leave.

Already, he was starting to ache for her, nearly cursing himself for deciding to play this new game, but he reminded himself that drawing out the anticipation like this would only heighten his pleasure when he finally did take her.

The idea had come to him only hours ago. He'd been watching Lindsay through her windows as she prepared for bed. As usual, she had changed into her long nightgown, brushed her teeth, and then she had slowly, seductively brushed her beloved hair. Once she had gotten into bed, she'd closed her eyes and said her prayers—again pleading for forgiveness for her vanity. She had begged for the strength to overcome her weakness.

Zarek smiled. He would answer her prayers tonight.

When he arrived at her bedroom door, he paused to place the palms of his hands on it. He thought that he could feel her heat through it, even though it was impossible. More than anything, he could feel her mind. She was dreaming that she was being chased by some dark force that she could not see. To her, it felt like a wave of evil was trying to overtake her.

Oh yes, this girl had intuition that rivaled Alexandra's. Of course, he had never played any games like this with his former slave. But over the weeks that he'd been stalking her, familiarizing himself with her strengths and weaknesses, Alexandra had been anxious. She'd had nightmares. While walking down the street, she had looked over her shoulder often, feeling his eyes on her. In fact, she had almost caught him watching her once. If he hadn't ducked out of sight with preternatural speed, she probably would have.

He wished that he'd had the self-control, then, to play with her as he was playing with Lindsay now. He could only imagine how sweet that would have been.

As it was, the time he had spent stalking Alexandra had been the most deliciously excruciating months of his long life. She had been thirteen when he'd found her in a rundown seaside town. The moment that he'd first seen her, she had been walking on the beach, letting the waves pour over her feet as they crashed onto the shore. Her hair had been whipping around in the salty wind. Her hands had been in her pockets. And believing that she was alone, she'd been singing. It was clear that she was tone deaf, but she hadn't cared. To this day, he wasn't sure why, but her dissonant voice had made him come undone. He'd been addicted, he'd been helpless. She had stolen his soul that day.

Unfortunately, the damn vixen had never given it back.

It didn't matter. Not any more. He had Lindsay now and the only thing standing between them was a door.

Zarek opened it and silently stepped into her bedroom. Amazingly, she stirred. Some part of her knew that he was there. He suddenly, desperately wished that she would wake, but that would ruin this moment, this game. So he forced himself to telepathically will her into unconsciousness.

Approaching her bed, he was mesmerized by her small, sleeping form. For a long while, Zarek could only stand over her, gazing at her angelic face and breathing in her scent. God, he burned for her. His hands itched to touch her. To hurt her. To make her rich blood drip down her creamy skin. He wanted to see fear light up her blue eyes, see her full lips open in a scream. His breathing became ragged with lust.

It took enormous effort to restrain himself. He knew that if he touched her now, it would be all over. He'd throw her over his shoulder and whisk her away. And he didn't want that. Not yet. He had to breathe, had to chill out, as they said in this day and age.

Some time later, he found that he had calmed down considerably. Finally trusting himself to do what he'd come here for, Zarek reached into the pocket inside his coat and drew a pair of scissors. He opened and closed them a few times, loving the metallic scratching sound as he sliced through the air.

With one hand, he rolled Lindsay onto her stomach while trying to ignore the way that her scent wafted up to him as her body moved. Then he reached down and gathered all of her long, silken hair into his other hand, pulling up until her head lifted from the pillow. With one quick snip, he freed the mass of hair from her and her head fell back down.

Rubbing a length of Lindsay's hair between his thumb and forefinger, he brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply, shuddering.

Soon.

Soon.

He slid his scissors back into his pocket and impulsively tucked one of her light brown tresses inside of it as well. After rolling her onto her back again, he spread the rest of her sheared hair on the pillow around her head. When she woke, it would take her a moment to notice that it was no longer a part of her. And then…

Zarek didn't know. That was the best part of this little game. The prize.

His heart was pounding as he fled Lindsay's home as quietly as he had entered it. Once he was outside, he dashed back around the house so that he could crouch underneath the window that was over her bed.

Sinking down into the soft snow, he waited for her to wake.

* * *

The highway was deserted this time of night. There were no streetlights on either side of the road. He left his headlights off, relying on his exceptional night vision to guide him through the darkness. Aiden felt alone, stealthy—moving through the world, but not a part of it.

Everything that he owned was in the trunk of his car and it took up a depressingly small amount of space. Things like that had never bothered him before, when he'd been working for the Night World. It had been impractical for someone like him to have a lot of possessions. He never knew when he'd be forced to run, without time to stop by the apartment to pack any clothes, books, movies, CDs, electronic equipment, small appliances, or furniture. And even though he was no longer a part of the Night World, his situation had changed very little. He was a hunted man and he always needed to be prepared to take off. The search for him had cooled off over the last year, though, and more often than not, when Aiden fled a city, it was of his own volition. If he stayed in any one place for too long, he became restless. After his sorry encounter with the prostitute the other night, he knew that it was time for him to leave Buffalo.

He didn't know where he was going. Hell, Aiden didn't even know what road he was on any more. After he'd gotten in the car, he'd decided to stay in the left lane and follow that route, wherever it took him, until he ran out of gas. He would stop to sleep for a while, and then tomorrow he would fill up the tank and do the same thing. Over and over again, until he hit a big city or got sick of driving.

So far, his path had landed him on some highway that was cutting through the mountains of upstate New York. He wondered if maybe, instead of heading towards a city, he should think about settling in some remote area like this. At least then he would be as alone as he felt. God knows it would be harder for him to find a hooker to humiliate himself with. And maybe, if he didn't have to see beautiful girls who reminded him of Eve or Lex every damn day, he wouldn't feel so haunted.

Goddamn, he was pathetic. The vampire that he'd once been—the one who had earned the nickname Hellraiser—would have staked the person he'd become long ago, just to stop his whining.

What would Eve have thought of it?

She probably would have loved it. She would have drunk in any emotion she could wring out of him. She hadn't known about his Night World business, no, but she'd been well aware of his persistent detachment. Time and again, she'd tried to get him to talk about himself—not just the facts, but his feelings as well, and every time, Aiden had left her hurt and disappointed. He hadn't even tried to humor her, spinning a web of lovely lies to help her sleep at night. No, he simply hadn't answered her questions.

Stop thinking about her, damn it. It doesn't do any good, it doesn't accomplish anything.

_Feelings aren't supposed to accomplish anything_, he could imagine Eve saying. _They just are_.

Maybe. But they're still fucking annoying.

Aiden could hear her soft laugh in his ear. _Well if you hadn't avoided them for ninety years, it wouldn't be this hard, silly._

Eighty-nine years, he corrected her, though he knew that wasn't the point. He had always thought that he was naturally cold and aloof. After Eve died, however, it had become painfully clear that he had feelings, just like everyone else; he'd just been better than most people at cutting himself off from them. And he was paying the price for that now.

_You will make it through this. You're strong._

You of all people should know better.

_Don't be so hard on yourself. You coped with life the only way you knew how. There are reasons that you shut down the way you did._

Really? What are they?

She laughed again. _How should I know? You never told me anything._

You've developed a sick sense of humor since you died.

_That's because I'm not actually Eve. I'm just a part of your own wretched mind._

Oh yeah, he was definitely losing it. But then, hadn't he lost it a long time ago? Was it even possible to keep losing it, again and again and again?

He really ought to find some shrink to talk to, like the prostitute had suggested. The guy would be able to make a career out of Aiden. Then, at least someone would be profiting from his madness.

Enough already. He reached down to turn up the volume on his radio, trying to drown out his own thoughts. Besides, Linkin Park sounded better at an ear-piercing volume.

A few minutes later, a strange sensation ripped through him. Gasping, he turned off the radio, trying to focus on the feeling. It almost felt like something was tugging at his chest, sucking the air out of his lungs.

Suddenly, he wrenched the steering wheel to the right and slammed on his brakes. Inertia sent him flying into his seatbelt as the car came to a screeching stop on the side of the highway.

"Oh god," he gasped. It couldn't be…

Aiden cocked his head to the side, opening himself up to the sensation. He had to be mistaken. This wasn't possible. But there was no other explanation.

As he sat alone in his car, he realized that the tugging on his chest felt more like something was being shoved into his heart and it was stretching to accommodate it. Just under the sound of his own heavy breath, he could hear something else. Crying, maybe. Whimpering.

Fear shot down his spine, but he knew that it wasn't his own. For the first time in nearly nineteen months, Aiden was feeling the presence of another person in his mind. Someone who was frightened and alone and very close by.

Alexandra.

But what the hell was she doing alone? Where was her soulmate—that sickeningly perfect, warm-hearted, idealistic Daybreak witch that Aiden had left her with? He was supposed to protect her, goddamn it.

He put his car back into drive and slammed on the gas, jerking the steering wheel around at the same time. The car whipped around and fishtailed for a few feet, and then he was racing the wrong way down the highway toward the nearest exit.

Aiden was going to find her. The soulmate link between them might not be the real thing, but it felt even stronger now than it had in D.C., and it wanted him to be with Lex. Who was he to argue with a force that was stronger than he could even imagine? He had tried once, with Eve, and he had ended up losing everything. Maybe he was crazy, but he sure as hell wasn't stupid enough to try to control the soulmate principle a second time.

It was still dark when Lindsay's alarm clock rang, waking her up for school. Zarek hadn't moved in the few hours since he had been inside of her room. He was kneeling outside of her bedroom window when he heard her alarm go off and he froze, unable to breathe.

This was it. The moment of truth.

After another endless second, he heard a high-pitched shriek that was so loud, it shook the windowpane.

Zarek Kakopoios nearly wept at the sound. It moved him even more than Alexandra's dreadful singing had. He realized, then, that he belonged to this young girl, just as he had belonged to Alexandra.

As her screaming continued, Zarek knew that he couldn't wait any longer. He had to have Lindsay today.

_

* * *

_

I apologize profusely for the wait. Work was busy and writer's block was driving me nuts. I hope very much that this doesn't suck.

_Thank you to the lovely.._

_CalliopeMused: Oh hell no. It's definitely not a bad think you regularly check for updates. _:) _I hope I didn't drive you too crazy with the wait, then. Your rusty geography is definitely right. Lex was thirteen, but nearly fourteen when she was changed.. so she had to look about four years older to pass for eighteen._

_Darklight Shadow: Why didn't Lex's cuts heal by the time she reached the motel. Good question. Um.. I guess I just didn't think of it. I don't think I'm going to bring Risa or Carden into this story.. I've already got enough characters running around and confusing me. _

_incarnated-soul: Why does Lex insist on being alone.. I don't think that she does now. She was thinking about that on the bus and realized that she didn't want to go back to being alone and closed off. And listen you, stop trying to guess what's coming next...because then it won't be a surprise any more. __Oh yeah.. you were actually the only one who picked up on the strange chapter title, Stolen Car. It's actually the name of a Beth Orton song that I was listening to a lot when I was writing that chapter. For some reason, it struck me as fitting.. at least for Reece's part. Oh yay! You went to my website! I was afraid that I was the only one who went there! My original stories are posted there too and I put up a pretty new message board if you'd like to leave comments. Pretty please. I am a review-whore._


	5. Sunrise

There was no hot water.

Alexandra was huddled on the cold tiled floor in the tiny bathroom, her drenched clothes lying in a ball next to her. She'd turned the shower on ten minutes ago and now she was still desperately clinging to the hope that the water would magically turn warm if she let it run long enough. She'd settle for lukewarm, even. Was that really asking too much?

Apparently it was.

After another ten minutes passed, Lex finally conceded defeat. She jumped under the icy spray and quickly washed away the smeared remnants of her makeup and the lingering stains of blood that marred her pale skin. Then she scampered out of the shower, her teeth chattering more violently than when she'd gone in.

"Yeah, this is a really nice motel," she grumbled to herself, remembering what the clerk behind the reservation desk had said when he'd refused to give her a room key. "A goddamn Hilton."

She knew the real reason the clerk had rejected her had nothing to do with the motel's reputation; it had been personal. Lex had seen in his mind that he'd been attracted to her, and he'd also been disgusted with himself for lusting after a girl who looked so young and vulnerable, with her wet clothes sticking to her body and the streaks of blood running down her face. His struggle had been unconscious, of course; the only thing the clerk had been aware of was a dire need to get rid of her.

Well, it didn't matter, she'd gotten a room. She only wished that it hadn't cost her so much money.

Lex had done a lot of traveling throughout her life, but she'd never done it by herself before. She had never handled the transportation or hotel details like this. That had always been left up to her maker, and then later, Tristan. No wonder she was terrible at it.

This was actually the first time that she'd even left Montreal since she'd arrived with Reece last year. When he'd seen that Lex had become restless only a few months later, he'd promised her that he would take her somewhere once his work slowed down. After a while, though, she realized that that was never going to happen. His work never slowed, never stopped. She understood that, but a part of her still hated him for making her a promise that he knew he couldn't keep.

Pain stabbed through her and she cursed herself for allowing it to happen.

Okay. Enough, she thought. Stop thinking about Reece and go to sleep. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and she would need a clear head tomorrow so that she could think of a way out of this hellhole.

As she walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in the miniscule piece of cloth the motel tried to pass off as a towel, she saw a puddle of water on the floor around her bag. Then a sudden realization struck her: all of her clothes were wet, not just the ones that she'd worn as she ran through the freezing rain. Her bag had gotten completely soaked as well.

With a resigned sigh, Alexandra unzipped it. She peeled each piece of clothing out of the bag and threw them over the back of the hardwood desk chair, over the doors and the doorknobs, over the open draws of the rickety, old dresser and the television that sat on top of it—anywhere she could find so that they would be dry in the morning.

Of course, that left her without anything to wear to bed, and the thought of slipping under the tattered bedspread completely naked was revolting. God knows what people had done in that bed. But still, it was probably better than lying there in her cold, wet clothes. So after she turned off the lights, Lex gritted her teeth and lay down on the bed, pulling the covers over her almost rebelliously.

Over an hour later, she was still lying there wide-awake as she stared at the ceiling. She couldn't relax. In the quiet of the room, her heartbeat seemed as loud as thunder, and it was beating too fast.

It had been over four years since she had spent the night in a strange place like this, since her maker had left her for dead. As she lay there, it almost felt like she was back with him, locked in a room that she had no chance of escaping from, waiting for him to come for her. While this motel was not the kind of place that her maker would have chosen—he'd had expensive taste—Lex still felt trapped and sick. She was choking on the close, stale air; i was pressing against her, holding her down, and she couldn't stand being held down. It plucked at a tight string of anxiety in her gut, triggering a wave of panic that surged through her.

Finally, Alexandra shot out of bed and yanked open every window in the room. The winter air rushed in, fresh and frigid as it blew over her bare skin. She breathed deeply, appreciating the cold for the first time in her life. It reminded her that she was no longer a slave. She was free.

Lying down on her side, she laid the blanket over her so that her legs and arms remained uncovered, letting the breeze flow over them. As the water that still clung to her wet hair began to freeze, and the rising sun melted the dark sky into a vibrant shade of blue, Lex finally fell asleep.

* * *

Breathing hard, Karissa plunged her stake into the greasy vampire's heart and she watched as he fell to the ground lifelessly. She was always happy to kill a vamp that was preying on someone, but she was especially glad that this one was dead. He'd given her a hell of a time: bruising her face, breaking out of her holds, catching one of her kicks and then driving his knee into the nerves at the back of her thigh. He'd even resorted to pulling her hair at one point, which had been a pathetic, but effective move. Then she'd finally managed to get the jump on him, using his own momentum to push him off balance so that she had a clear shot at his chest.

She turned away, checking up and down the alley for the teenage girl that the vampire had been biting when Karissa had come along, but the girl was nowhere to be found.

Good. She just hoped that the waiflike blond who'd been wearing too much makeup and not nearly enough clothes for a December night would head home and stay out of trouble.

Karissa headed back towards the street, smiling to herself as her heart rate slowed. She was definitely on a roll tonight, killing three vampires in five hours. She hadn't patrolled in over three weeks, not since Nick had been attacked, and it felt really good to get back to work.

And she was back with a vengeance.

The Night World always underestimated her, not only because she was human, but also because she looked like some college sorority chick. Tonight, for example, she was dressed in her skin tight, low-rider jeans that flared out below the knee, her navy pea coat, and her brightly-colored cashmere scarf that she'd wrapped twice around her neck. Hardly the attire that a warrior would be expected to wear. Karissa actually owned a hat that matched the scarf, but she'd forgotten it when she stormed out of the apartment. Still, with an intentionally ditzy smile on her face, her vacuous persona was working well for her. Even that greasy vampire had wasted too much time playing with her, instead of killing her right off the bat. He really hadn't been the sharpest knife in the rack.

The streets were mostly empty at this hour. The bars and clubs had long since closed. It was a little strange to be out this late by herself. Most nights that she patrolled, Sorrentino, who was also human, was at her side. Cahill tried not to let anyone on the team patrol by themselves, especially not the humans.

Tonight, however, she just didn't want to see anyone. Besides, she had a black belt in aikido—she could take care of herself. In fact, she could hold her own against most of the team members. Alyssa and Jase were tough, but somewhat predictable. She'd recently found out the hard way that she could take Sorrentino—she'd also learned never to tease him about his first name being Francis. And Karissa actually knew from her sparring sessions that she could even handle Nick.

Of course, her idiot boyfriend liked to remind her that a witch didn't need to be trained in physical combat to beat her. He could knock her out with one magick blow.

Her jaw clenched. She had managed to cool off over the past few hours, but as soon as her mind conjured up the image of Nick sitting at the kitchen table, his hazel eyes glimmering with power as he threatened her, anger welled up inside of her all over again. He was such a creep, thinking that he could intimidate her because he was a witch and she was nothing but a measly human. On nights like this, she didn't even understand why he would do something so degrading as to date her.

And to think that she'd wasted three weeks by his bedside when she could have been out fighting the Night World. Then what would he have done? That first week, Nick hadn't even been able to summon enough power to heat up his own soup or change the TV station. He would have been lost without her.

Come to think of it, he needed her even when he wasn't hurt. The boy could not use a computer to save his life. She had lost count of the number of times he'd gotten lost in cyberspace just trying to check his e-mail. And his color-coordination skills seriously sucked. Nick ought to thank his lucky stars, or the Goddess, or whatever, that she was around.

Karissa hadn't realized that she'd been walking home until she turned onto her street. She was still too angry to face Nick, but she really wanted to take a hot shower to thaw out her frozen limbs. Then she would go to sleep, and hopefully she would wake up in a more reasonable mood, if Nick were lucky.

Besides, although she hated to admit it, Karissa knew that she didn't really have anywhere else to go. Alyssa, Jase, and Sorrentino wouldn't mind letting her crash at their place for a few hours, or even a few days, but with three people already crammed into a one bedroom apartment, there wasn't much room for her. Not to mention the fact that she wanted quiet to sort through her thoughts, and those three were anything but.

When she reached the front door, she turned her key in the lock as silently as possible, hoping that Nick had already gone to bed. Before she could push the door open more than an inch, the knob was abruptly ripped out of her grip as Nick wrenched the door open from inside the apartment. His hazel eyes were wide and he was breathing hard, as if he'd run a marathon. "Where the hell have you been?" he exclaimed.

Karissa impatiently pushed past him and stepped inside. "Out," she replied coldly as she took off her coat and unraveled her scarf.

The witch shut the door and stalked up behind her. He wasn't using his cane, she noted with irritation. He didn't have any trouble obeying Cahill's orders down to the letter, but apparently he had no qualms about disregarding his doctor's instructions.

"It's been hours," he said unsteadily.

With her back to him, Karissa paused, suddenly disturbed by the tone of his voice. She'd never heard him sound like that. If she didn't know better, she would say that he sounded afraid.

Before she could say anything, he grasped her shoulders from behind and carefully ran his hands down her arms, as if he was examining her. It was too bizarre. She shook his hands off and spun around. "What're you doing?" she asked him accusingly.

Nick didn't answer. He just stared at her with a strange look in his eyes, like he hadn't seen her in weeks and he was trying to take her all in. Then he touched her again, pushing her hair off her forehead and running his fingertips over her cheeks.

Karissa held both of his wrists as he cupped her face. "What are you doing?" she asked him again. "What is the matter with you?"

The witch frowned and his hands fell away from her. "What's the matter with me? You storm out of the house in the middle of the night and disappear for almost six hours, and you have the nerve to ask me that?"

"Hey, you're the one who threatened me, and I didn't see you trying to stop me from leaving." She was purposely baiting him, hoping to drag him into an argument that was familiar, because right now the frightened expression on Nick's face was weirding her out.

When he didn't bite, she exhaled an exasperated breath. "And anyway, this isn't the first time you've made me so mad that I couldn't stand to be around you," she reminded him. She hated that he was making her say it, because it made her anger seem petty, but she needed to do away with this anxious stranger who had stolen her boyfriend's body.

"I don't care," he said fiercely, and Karissa realized that he meant it. Whatever was bothering him now had nothing to do with the fight they'd had earlier. "The Night World is gunning for us and you ran out into it—_alone_. You could have gotten hurt."

Bewildered, she shook her head. "We've been out fighting the Night World for years, Nick, and you know that I've worked alone before. Why are you suddenly acting like…" Her voice trailed off as she finally understood what this was about. Neither of them had been out on the streets since he'd been hurt, and that attack was the first really close call that he'd ever had. It had obviously shaken him up more than either of them had realized.

The last of her anger faded. Karissa stepped closer to him and looked up into his eyes. "I'm all right," she assured him. "I'm right here."

"You don't understand. When you walked out that door, I was so pissed off. And when you didn't come back…" He glanced away, as if he couldn't bear to look at her.

"You thought something happened to me."

He nodded. "It's just…that vampire nearly killed me. We go out there every night, insisting that we know there's a good chance we'll die, but you don't really _know_ until it happens."

"But it's happened before," Karissa said softly. "We lost Beth. You weren't like this then."

"No. To me, her death just doesn't seem real. I wasn't there to see it happen. I think part of me still believes that she just moved or something. That's probably why I never pushed Cahill for the details."

Nick looked back at her, his gaze so intense that it made her shiver. "Look, I don't give a damn about myself. But I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Karissa's heart swelled. She wished that she could just leave it at that and throw herself into his arms, but they still needed to settle the fight they'd had before. Too many things were said to simply forget about it. "Even though I betrayed your trust?" she murmured.

Nick gave her a knowing look. "I had a right to be mad about that, Kar, and I'm not going to apologize for it. But to be fair, I don't think that was the only reason I was mad."

"Oh?"

"What you were saying about Cahill pissed me off because I think maybe you were right about him. I just didn't want to admit it."

"Wait, did I just hear you say that I was right about something?" she asked.

"Yes," he said begrudgingly.

"So if I was right, then that would make you…"

"Wrong. All right? You were right, I was wrong. You're a goddess, and I'm a pathetic loser who does not deserve to kiss the ground that you walk on."

She knew that he was just teasing, but Nick's words struck a nerve. "I'm just a human," she said quietly. "You're the witch."

Tilting his head to the side, he gave her a confused look. "So? You think I care about that?"

"Well…" She glanced away, biting her lip.

"I work for Circle Daybreak. I've been with you for two years. How can you possibly think that I look down on you for being human?"

"What about that light trick you did before?" she replied defensively. "What about the whole I'm-a-witch-so-I-don't-need-to-walk-to-take-you-down thing?"

He gave her a deprecating laugh. "Hey, I need to say something when all the guys start ragging on me because my girlfriend can kick the crap out of me."

She smiled in spite of herself. It really wasn't fair how easily he could elicit a smile from her. "I'm serious, Nick."

His expression sobered. "Karissa, of course I don't care that you're human. I love you. You're a remarkable woman and you're an amazing fighter—not just for a girl or for a human; you're amazing, period. I mean, I train along with everyone else, but I know that I'll never be as good as you. All I've got is magick. So maybe I do sometimes throw that in your face."

"So…you're jealous," Karissa stated, raising her eyebrows.

"If you want to pin a label on it, yes," he replied stiffly.

"Huh. Sweet."

"You're not going to be gracious about this, are you?"

"I wouldn't count on it."

Nick laughed shortly. "I guess I deserve that." Then he paused for a moment, becoming serious once again. "I think I understand why you didn't tell me about Lex. You did what you had to do."

"But…" Karissa prompted.

"But I still think that it was wrong. And now that I know, I'm going to tell Cahill. And that's just what I have to do."

Damn. She'd been hoping to give Lex a little more time. It wasn't that she didn't want Reece to go after his soulmate, but Karissa didn't want the vampire to know that she'd given up the secret so soon. She really did want to be friends with Lex when Reece brought the girl back. Not even for her own sake, but for Lex's. Working for Circle Daybreak could be very…isolating. You had to take whatever company you could get sometimes. It wasn't good to spend as much time alone and withdrawn as Lex did.

Still…there was one sure-fire way to stall Nick.

Karissa moved closer to him until her body brushed his. Lifting her head up, she whispered, "You don't have to tell him now, do you?"

The witch's breath hitched, his hazel eyes darkening. "Why?" he murmured, slipping his arms around her. "Do you have something else in mind?"

"It's just that we've both been up all night," she said as Nick leaned in to kiss her neck. "We should really go to bed. Don't you think?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not exactly tired," he purred in her ear.

"Oh," she replied mischievously, "I think I can fix that." She pulled back slightly so that she could see his face, and then she kissed him hard. All of the emotions that had run rampant inside of her that night suddenly came spiraling to the surface, fueling the kiss.

Nick broke away after a minute and leaned down to pick her up into his arms, making her squeak in surprise. "What? You know that I'm stronger than you," he said smugly.

"Baby, it doesn't matter how strong you are. I can still kick your ass."

He chuckled as he took a step towards the hallway, but his bad leg collapsed under their combined weight and they toppled to the floor. He turned his torso as he fell, shifting her to the side as he took the brunt of the impact himself.

Karissa wound up landing next to Nick, with one of his arms underneath her. He was lying on his side, his other arm slung over his head, and he was shaking.

She leaned over him. "Oh god," she gasped, starting to panic. "Are you okay? Nick?"

The witch lifted his head so that she could see the smile on his face, and she realized that he was laughing. "Oops. Forgot about the leg," he admitted.

Seeing that he wasn't badly hurt, she relaxed. Then she couldn't help giggling along with him. "You idiot," she snickered. "That's what you get for trying to show off."

A moment later, he abruptly stopped laughing and in the breathless silence that followed, the space between them crackled with energy. He gazed up at her, the heat returning to his eyes as he reached up to cup the back of her neck, drawing her down to him.

The kiss was slower this time, more languid, but it still made her head spin. The last clear thought Karissa had was that the phone call to Reece would definitely have to wait—for a very long time.

* * *

"Fuck!" Aiden cursed under his breath when he saw the sharp curve in the road up ahead.

He was lost in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the tugging of the soulmate link to guide him. It had been over an hour since he'd first felt it on the highway. And while he'd thought that it would be easy to follow the link straight to Lex, he hadn't known that the roads in this mountainous part of New York were so curvy. Whenever he reached an intersection, he would feel the link pull him in a certain direction and the new road would lead him closer to Lex for a while, but then it would turn, sending him the wrong way. Then he had no choice but to stay on the road until the next intersection, which was often several miles away. So as the sun rose, he essentially found himself playing a very large, annoyingly complex game of "hot and cold".

The road veered again and he took the corner at forty miles an hour, his tires barely gripping the slick roads as his car threatened to fishtail. Turning the steering wheel into the swerve, he managed to stay in control. When the road finally straightened out, he floored it.

Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, clouding his mind. The first and last time that he had tracked Lex down, she'd been a prisoner in a Daybreak compound. Aiden had been able to feel the connection with her then, but in his madness, he'd believed that he was sensing Eve's spirit inside of Alexandra. Even then, as insane as he'd been, he had calculated his way inside the compound, out of the maximum security cell that Daybreak had locked him in, and into Lex's own cell.

Right now, though, Aiden's mind was failing him. He couldn't think, he couldn't plan. He could only feel Lex—her loneliness, her fear—and the desperate compulsion to find her.

A few miles down the road, the bright lights of an open gas station and convenience store momentarily blinded him. It was actually the first station that he'd seen in the hour that he'd been driving around the narrow, rural roads. Squeezing his eyes shut, Aiden was about to drive past it when his brain finally started to function.

He pulled into the gas station, slamming to a stop right in front the store.

Inside, there was a young man standing behind the counter, talking on the phone. He didn't even glance at Aiden when the vampire pushed the door open.

"I know…" the guy was saying. "Can you believe he did that? And I mean—"

"I need a map," the vampire interrupted in a clipped voice.

Without a pause in his conversation, the human employee pointed to a circular rack that stood behind the magazine rack. "So what're you doing tomorrow night?" he was asking the person on the line. "Yeah? Me and Jake got a few kegs…"

Aiden quickly scanned through the selection and grabbed the most comprehensive one. Then he strode up to the counter and unfolded the map, laying it out flat. "Where are we on here?" he asked.

The guy turned away, pretending that he hadn't heard. "Totally," he said into the phone. "It'll be awesome. And Tara's going to come. This will definitely be our night—"

"I'm in a hurry."

The human just threw him an annoyed glance, and then went back to staring at the cartons of cigarettes behind the counter as he talked.

Impatiently, Aiden searched through the guy's thoughts, trying to find the answer to his question, but all he got was the human's name, the details of the party he was having and the image of some girl's cleavage, no doubt belonging to this Tara girl he'd been talking about.

"Yeah, okay," the guy—Mike—was saying now. "You should head over around ten, so—"

Aiden snapped. He could feel the soulmate link pulling even harder at him now that he was standing still and he needed to get back on the road. Telepathically, he ripped the phone out of the human's hand and spun him around.

The color instantly drained from the guy's face. He raised his hands in the air, as if he were being robbed. "What the hell…" he gasped.

"What the hell, indeed," Aiden said in a calm, reasonable voice. "Is this the way you treat all of your customers?"

The human was nearly hyperventilating. "How did you do that? What are you? What do you want?"

"Funny you should ask. Right now, I want to kill you. I want to reach across the counter and snap your neck before you even have the chance to scream. And there is only one thing preventing me from doing that: you know where we are on this map and I don't. If you value your life at all, you will come over here and tell me what I want to know. Do you understand me, Mike?"

"B-but if I do that, how do I know you won't kill me after?"

Aiden almost respected him for having the sense of mind to ask that question, but he only smiled. "You'll just have to take it on faith, I suppose," he replied softly. "Now, if would please come over here…"

Shaking, the employee took a nervous step towards the counter, but he was moving too damn slow.

"Now!" Aiden shouted.

Mike jumped forward and hastily looked down at the map. "Um…" he said, his hands trembling as his fingers ran over the paper.

Watching the guy fumble with the map as he looked back and forth between the index and the curving lines of the roads, Aiden silently cursed himself. He had frightened this pathetic human so badly that he might not even be of any use now.

Suddenly Mike pointed his finger. "There!"

Aiden looked down, memorizing the spot, and then he ripped the map away in one sweeping motion. He didn't even bother trying to refold it as he started out of the store.

Just before he reached the door, he thought he heard Eve's appalled gasp in his ear, and he rolled his eyes. "Ah Christ."

Turning back, he threw a ten dollar bill down on the counter. "There," he snapped aloud at Eve as he headed out of the store. "Happy now?"

_

* * *

_

Thanks for reading. And thank you to my reviewers.. CalliopeMused, incarnated-soul, Darklight Shadow, and a special thanks to Mandy because it's always nice to get a review from someone new.. it gives me hope that maybe there are a few more people out there reading.

:) 


	6. Shrill

Tears still stained Lindsay Rosen's cheeks as she stared out the window, the remnants of her beautiful brown hair spread over her lap.

"Can you tell me what happened?" the police officer asked, crouching down on the floor so that he was eye-level with her. He was wearing his uniform, his badge glinting in the sunlight. Even though you were supposed to trust policemen, Lindsay was nervous.

"Didn't my parents already tell you?" she asked suspiciously, tearing her eyes away from the window.

Officer Brooks nodded. "Now I want to hear what you have to say," he replied in his soft, calming voice.

Lindsay glanced over at her parents, who were sitting next to her on the couch. Her father was dressed in his navy suit with the red tie, and her mother was wearing her pink cashmere sweater with black pants. These were their church clothes, but they had believed that they should look nice when the policeman arrived at their home. They'd even made Lindsay wear the long-sleeved green velvet dress that they had bought for her to wear to mass on Christmas Eve.

Their expressions were tense as they looked back at her. Her parents didn't want her to embarrass them. God would want her to honor and obey them, but He would also want her to tell the truth. Lindsay didn't know what to do.

"Well, I went to sleep at ten," she said. "My bedtime is supposed to be nine-thirty, but my mother let me stay up late to finish my homework. Um…I woke up at six, when my alarm went off, and when I sat up…" Lindsay paused to sniffle as tears stung her eyes. "When I sat up, all of my hair was left on the pillow."

All of her beautiful hair was gone. What she was left with was an uneven crop that wasn't even chin-length.

"Did you hear anything in the middle of the night?" Officer Brooks asked her while he took notes. "Anything strange?"

She shook her head, wiping her nose.

The policeman put his pen down and looked at her keenly. "Do you have any idea why someone would want to do this to you?"

Lindsay hesitated, again glancing at her parents.

"Don't look at them," the officer said. "Look at me."

She did as she was told, and something inside of her relaxed. The cop was being so nice to her, as if he cared about what she had to say. But he would never believe her. Not even her own parents believed her.

Then Lindsay noticed a gold chain under the collar of his crisp, light blue shirt, and hanging on the chain was a cross. "Do you believe in God?" she asked him quietly.

"Lindsay—" her mother started, but the policeman held up his hand to silence her. "Yes," he replied earnestly.

"Do you believe in evil?"

"This is not what Officer Brooks came to hear, young lady," her father scolded. "Remember what we talked about."

This time the officer paid no attention to the interruption, but he didn't answer her question, either. "Do you?" he countered.

She nodded solemnly. "It's everywhere. We are all sinners."

"And what have you done wrong?" he asked.

"My daughter hasn't done anything," her mother suddenly cried while still trying to hold her polite smile. "She did nothing to deserve this and—"

"Mrs. Rosen, please—" Officer Brooks said.

Her father patted her mother's shoulder. "Darling, calm down—"

"I loved my hair so much," Lindsay said softly, as if she was speaking to herself, but her words silenced everyone. She looked into the policeman's eyes, willing him to believe her. "I know it was wrong. I begged God for forgiveness. I didn't even want my hair any more, I swear. I just needed a little more time to... I would be grateful, but…I know that God wasn't the one who did this to me."

"Then who did, Lindsay?" the cop asked her, looking at her intently.

Her bottom lip trembled, remembering the evil presence that she'd felt last night. "The Devil," she whispered.

Officer Brooks stared at her for another moment, and Lindsay felt a spark of hope inside of her. Then he rolled his eyes and stood up. "All right," he groaned. "I've had about enough of this."

Her heart plummeted.

"Now wait a minute," her father said, getting up off the couch.

"Look, I have better things to be doing," the policeman said. His voice was suddenly different—colder, nastier—and Lindsay realized that he hadn't believed a word she'd said, not for one minute. This whole time he'd been making fun of her. _Humoring_ her, her fifth-grade teacher would have said.

"But the devil really was here!" she yelled. "I felt him. I saw him standing over my bed!"

Officer Brooks just turned towards the door as if he hadn't heard.

"Wait!" Lindsay's father shouted. Then he composed himself. "Our daughter may have a…strong imagination, but someone did break into our house and cut off her hair."

"There's no evidence of a break-in," the policeman retorted.

"Well, we don't usually lock our doors," Lindsay's mother stuttered, still sitting with her hands folded on her lap. "This is such a safe area and no one even lives nearby…"

"Mrs. Rosen," Officer Brooks said tiredly, "there's no evidence that _any_ crime occurred. Your daughter probably cut her own hair and is making up this story so that you won't be mad at her."

"I did not!" Lindsay insisted. "The man in black did it—the Devil!"

"Please," her mother pleaded.

The cop sighed. "All right, I'll file a report. But until someone else around here calls in about a prowler or something, I've got nothing to go on."

"Couldn't you…dust for fingerprints or something?" Lindsay's father asked in exasperation. "Look for hairs?"

Officer Brooks smirked. "You watch too much CSI, buddy." He opened the front door, and then he paused at the threshold, looking back at her parents. "In the mean time, you really should get your daughter some therapy."

Lindsay saw anger in her father's eyes, but he gritted his teeth against it for a moment, breathing slowly. He was very good at keeping his temper. "Thank you for your time, Officer," he said politely.

Once he had closed the door behind the policeman, he turned to Lindsay. "Why did you say all of those things to him?" he asked.

She looked down at her lap full of brown hair. "Because it was the truth," she murmured, suddenly drained.

Her mother touched her shoulder. "I thought you agreed that you just had a bad dream."

"But I saw him. I saw him standing over my bed last night."

Her father walked over to the couch and sat down on the other side of her. "I believe that you saw someone, Lindsay," he said. And he sounded like he meant it—but then, so had the policeman, at first. "But it wasn't the Devil, sweetheart. It was just some bad man."

"He knew about my hair," she insisted.

He leaned forward and drew her into his arms. "I know. And honestly, that scares me a lot." Then he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Do you know what a crime of opportunity is?"

Confused, Lindsay shook her head.

"It means that a criminal—like the man you saw last night—will hurt someone else only when it's easy for him to do it, and when he knows that he won't get caught. The man broke in here because we don't lock our doors and it was easy for him to get in. From now on, we're going to keep the doors and windows locked, and I'm even going to start looking around for a security system. It won't be easy for the man to break in again, so he'll just go away."

She understood what her father was saying, but she didn't believe it. The evil thing that had stood over her last night knew her. He knew what she was scared of and what she was ashamed of. "But, Daddy," she said emphatically, "he knew about my hair."

"Sweetie, you have to trust me on this. You know that I would never let anyone hurt you. And God will protect you, too. You know that, right?"

Lindsay frowned. Her parents watched the six o'clock news every night, and sometimes she watched it with them. She knew that bad things happened to people all the time, even to girls like her. Once she had asked her father why God let those things happen and he had said that it was all part of His plan.

"Only if it's His will," she said softly.

Her mother leaned in to hug Lindsay. "It is," she said. "I know it is."

Then Lindsay realized that her mother and father were acting so calm and sure because they were afraid, and she didn't want to make it any worse. "Okay."

"Now," her father said, "we should get you to school so that you don't miss too many classes."

"Awww," she whined, mostly because she was supposed to.

"Don't 'awww' me, young lady," her father said, but his voice was warm. He wasn't really angry with her. "March down to your room and get your backpack."

"And you need to change out of that dress," her mother said. "I don't want it to get ruined before Christmas."

Lindsay balled up the mass of loose hair on her lap, and her father brought the trash can over to her so that she could throw it all away. Her eyes filled again, watching it fall into the bin.

"I'm sorry it's gone, sweetie," her father said. "But you can grow it back."

"No," she replied, brushing away the strands that were clinging to her dress. "I can't."

_

* * *

_

The sky above her was vast and blue as she floated on the cold water. The summer sunshine warmed her from above and the ocean cooled her from below. Her fingers gracefully slid through the water as she drifted slowly towards the shore.

_Free. So free…_

_A cloud passed overhead, blocking out the sun and casting the world in shadow. She stared at the large, rolling cloud with fascination. It almost looked like a face, hovering above her. A beautiful face with black eyes that were fixed on her._

_There was a soft splash behind her. Then something snaked around her waist and yanked her under the surface of the sea. She choked on salt water as she kicked her arms and legs, trying to free herself. But there were arms around her, stronger than steel, and they were holding her against a hard body._

_The person holding her plunged through the water at an impossible speed. She hadn't taken a breath before she'd been pulled under and her lungs burned for air. She needed to breathe, but if she inhaled the water, it would all be over._

_Hold on one more second. Just wait one more second._

_She thrashed against her captor again, in a panic. Instinct drove her as she fought with everything she had. Scratching, kicking, biting. Let me go, let me go._

_It was useless. She was too weak, too dizzy, and the person who held her was too strong._

_Darkness, then, as she slipped away…_

_Time passed, the scene shifted._

_Her eyes opened. He was on top of her again, tearing her apart. Her hands were still tied down, but she did not have the energy to fight anyway. The pain was far too great for her body or her mind to bear._

_She remembered the sea, remembered the darkness enfolding her. The beautiful, blessed darkness. She reached for it as she closed her eyes, feeling herself fading away. No longer a part of this, no longer herself…_

_Free…_

_A new pain assaulted her as fangs stabbed into her throat. And it felt as if his soul had seized hers, dragging it from above back into her battered body._

Open your eyes, Alexandra, his voice commanded.

_She wouldn't. She couldn't._

Don't try to escape. I will always find you. Now open your eyes and scream for me…

_Powerless against him, Lex obeyed._

* * *

Aiden sat in the car, gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. His breath was coming in quick gulps, and he had broken into a cold sweat.

He had found her. He was in the parking lot of a dingy motel and he could feel her just a few yards away, behind the door marked "12". Lex was so close.

This was what he had wanted. This was what he'd driven around the mountain roads for, this was what he'd frightened that irksome store clerk for, this was what he had been burning for—and not just tonight. He remembered the golden curls of the prostitute that he'd brought home. He remembered the way that his heart had stopped when Lex had answered his call later that night, the way his mind had suddenly gone blank.

But, Eve…

No, he'd never liked Eve. Of course, he'd never given himself the chance to try, but that didn't matter. She was dead, and while he may have loved her, he'd never liked her.

And, Lex…

He'd been drawn to her from the moment he'd seen her pacing in the lobby of Angie's building, her chilling eyes afire. Then the night that Angie had introduced them on the subway, there had been an undeniable spark between them. He'd let her pierce his mental armor and see the pain that raged inside of him. In that moment, he'd known that she understood him.

She liked him, she'd said so. And goddamn it, he liked her—more than he had realized. He'd driven all this way for her.

So why was he still sitting in the car? Why couldn't he move?

This was fucking ridiculous. Lex was alone and she was afraid, and she needed…

Him?

Hardly. And that was the crux of it, he knew. It was why he had never gone after her before. He'd left her with her real soulmate because she was better off with that Daybreak witch. Aiden only destroyed everything that he touched.

But god, he wanted to touch her. He gripped the steering wheel harder, barely aware of the fact that he was bending it in his fists, but it didn't help. He was in free fall, and the contrived soulmate link was like gravity, pulling him at terminal velocity towards Lex. And what would happen when he finally collided with her?

Images flashed before his eyes. His face in her hair, his lips close to her throat as he pressed her against the wall. His hands running over the curves of her body. Her fingers clenching his shirt as she gasped. His hand clamped over her mouth, feeling her lips against his palm as the soulmate link scorched him with its heat.

Aiden shuddered as he remembered those few minutes he'd spent with Lex in the Daybreak compound. He wanted it. He needed to feel that again, needed to feel alive again.

Then another image invaded his mind. He saw Angie Catallini straddling Lex, her hands around the smaller vampire's neck, squeezing. Aiden had tried to save Lex and he'd failed. With two bullets in him, he could only watch helplessly from the floor as Angie slowly killed the girl that he—

He had to turn around, Aiden thought. He had to start the engine and get the hell out of here, leaving her far behind, before this went any further. If he drove away now, she would never have to know how close she'd come to disaster. Whatever was going on between Lex and her soulmate, Aiden was sure they would figure it out soon enough. The Daybreak witch would take care of her and keep her safe, just as he'd done that day in the compound after Aiden had failed. Fate had chosen that self-righteous witch for Lex, just as it had chosen Genevieve for him. He had thrown his own soulmate away, and he had no right to be going after someone else's.

Aiden turned the key in the ignition and listened to the engine rev. Putting the car in gear, he started to back out of his parking space.

Then he heard something that made him slam on the brake: a scream—her scream—and it was blood-curdling. Dimly, he realized that it wasn't a physical sound. It was in his mind, shattering all of his thoughts like glass. For an instant, Aiden could actually see it—sharp red and black lines wound tightly together, shooting through his head like an arrow, obliterating everything in its path.

He didn't remember putting the car in park or getting out of the driver's side door. The run from the car to the door of her motel room was a blur. The next thing he knew, he was charging through the door. The security chain snapped, the deadbolt tore through the plaster, the hinges gave way from the force of the impact.

Inside. He was finally inside.

There she was, lying rigidly in the bed. Her unseeing eyes stared through the ceiling, and her mouth was open as she screamed. She was dreaming.

Without thinking, Aiden darted to the bed and drew her into his arms. The scream caught in her throat as she woke up. She was silent for an instant, and then she fought him like a cornered animal, trying to claw away. Her black curly hair fell into her face as she whipped her head around.

"Shhh." He held her tightly as she struggled. She was wild enough in this state to hurt herself. "It's all right. I've got you, okay? It's all right."

Slowly, she settled down. Her face was turned away from him, but Aiden knew that she was coming fully awake. As the jagged edges of her mind softened, he forced himself to loosen his hold on her, but only slightly.

That was when he realized that the soulmate link had opened between them. He could barely breathe as he felt its heat flood him. And in his arms, he could feel that she had gone still as well. She was holding her breath.

She turned over onto her back, and then Aiden understood why the link had come to life. Everywhere he touched was bare skin—her arms, her sides, her back. She was naked.

Oh god, he had Alexandra Harper naked in his arms. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep his eyes on her face, to keep his hands in place on her back.

Lex wasn't the least bit self-conscious as she looked into his eyes, but he could feel her confusion. It seemed like she was trying to decipher something, as if she recognized him, but couldn't place him.

His heart constricted at that thought. Had she forgotten him? Had she not thought of him at all since they'd last seen each other in Washington, D.C.?

She wet her lips, and he nearly gasped at the gesture. When she spoke, her voice was as low and sweet as he remembered. "Aiden?"

* * *

Just one more hour, Reece promised himself.

He was sprawled out on his stomach on the bed now because his back had nearly locked up from leaning over his work for so long. The light of his computer screen hurt his gritty eyes and he stopped scrolling down the webpage long enough to rub them again.

His second wind, the one that had infused him after Karissa's phone call, had long since died, and now he was running on fumes. It had probably been closer to his hundred-and-second wind anyway.

In the eighteen or nineteen months that he'd been hunting Zarek, he had pushed himself past the point of exhaustion more times than he could remember. His strength had failed him, his faith had failed him, and yet, he was still here. After all this time, he was still bargaining with himself—just one more trip, one more day, one more hour.

Reece knew that he'd promised Karissa that he would be home soon, but Zarek was about to make his move. He could feel it. If he walked away now, he would be condemning some other innocent girl to an unimaginable hell.

The Loud Sex couple in the room next to him had either fallen asleep or checked out, and a heavy silence had descended. It lulled him. Reece felt like time was passing in slow motion. When he blinked, his eyes closed for a full second before he found the will to open them again. He was so tired.

Goddess, he had to wake up and concentrate. Reece forced himself to get off the bed and stretch. Reaching his hands over his head, he noticed for the first time how stale the air had become. He glanced at the vents on the ceiling and realized that he couldn't remember the last time he'd heard them turn on. No wonder he was drowsy—he'd been inhaling his own carbon dioxide for hours. Of course, the fact that he hadn't slept in over thirty-six hours didn't help, but he didn't want to think about that.

He opened the window. Breathing in the cold air, he felt his head clear a little, but not nearly enough. With a sigh, Reece pressed his forehead against the cool window pane. He couldn't do this any more. He just couldn't. It had been too long and he was quickly running himself into the ground. Even his team had noticed.

Maybe he should just tell them about his mission and let them help, as Karissa had suggested. She could take over the internet searches while Jase and Sorrentino scanned the police reports. Alyssa and Nick could be out on the streets, integrating themselves into the Vermont Night World. They could ask around to see if anyone might be interested in sampling this delicious little human girl they had just picked up, trying to draw the target out into the open. And with the workload delegated, Reece could actually take the time to think, to plan. His team would have Zarek in custody within days, he was sure.

But he didn't want any of them to know what Lex had been through. If they did, then they wouldn't be able to think of anything else when they looked at her. He knew it because sometimes it was impossible even for him to think about anything else. Too often, he looked into her gorgeous eyes and only saw darkness in their depths. Sometimes when she spoke, all Reece heard were screams.

His team would try to hide it, of course, and pretend that she was the same person to the, but they wouldn't be able to stop the pity from softening their voices when they spoke to her. They wouldn't be able to help treating her like the fragile, damaged thing that she had once been. And Lex would despise them all.

No, if Reece was going to ask for help, it would have to be someone outside his team. Someone who Lex hardly ever saw. Someone she already disliked, who wasn't like family to Reece. Someone who wouldn't treat her like she was broken, who lacked the tact to even try. Carden, maybe. The vampire did owe him a favor, but Reece had honestly never been planning to collect. Besides, this would be one hell of a favor…

Unconsciously, he turned away from the window and leaned against the wall. Lost in his thoughts, he stared through his laptop, through the bed underneath, through the floor. But then a single word on the computer screen suddenly came into focus.

_Prowler._

The word invoked a strange shiver inside of him. Reece went over to the bed and dragged his laptop to the edge while he kneeled down on the floor. He was almost afraid to breathe as he read the police report, and by the time he was finished, his mind was racing.

A call had been placed at 6:12 AM by Mr. David Rosen. Officer Jeremy Brooks arrived on the scene at 6:58 AM. Mr. Rosen reported that, at some time during the night, someone had entered his home and cut off the hair of his ten year-old daughter, Lindsay. The officer saw no sign of a break-in and nothing was missing from the Rosen home, so there was nothing more to be done.

"Be advised," the report read. "There may be a prowler in the area."

This wasn't the kind of information that normally caught Reece's attention. He was more interested in missing person reports because it would allow him to identify Zarek's victim. Once he'd done that, Reece could find the girl's home and use one of her possessions to cast a locator spell, which would lead him straight to her and to the bastard who had taken her.

He read the report in front of him once more. The girl, Lindsay, was a little too young for Zarek's taste, but then Lex, at nearly fourteen, had been a little too old. Clearly, if the bastard saw something he liked, he didn't let a small matter like age stand in his way.

It was the act itself, though, that Reece was most interested in. Cutting off a girl's hair while she slept seemed like a very…intimate thing to do. "Mind-fuck" was the only term he could think of to describe it. And nothing had been stolen, nothing else out of place—this wasn't some random crime. The girl hadn't even woken up when her hair was being cut off, which meant that she had to have been under some sort of mind control.

A new, volatile energy was coursing through Reece, but he needed to calm down and do this methodically. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths. When his hands were no longer shaking, he went back to the computer and searched around until he found a phone number.

The man answered on the first ring. "Brooks."

"This is Lieutenant Cahill," Reece said, relieved that his voice was still steady. "Orleans County police. I need more information about the prowler report you submitted."

There was a pause. "The Rosen case?" Brooks asked.

"Yes. We've gotten reports of similar incidences throughout the county."

Another pause. "Really?"

"You sound surprised," Reece remarked.

The man laughed uncomfortably. "Sorry, sir. It's just that I didn't actually believe the kid."

"You mean Lindsay Rosen?"

"Yeah," Brooks said. "She was going on and on about the Devil cutting off her hair. Honestly, I thought she was nuts. I—"

Reece hung up.

Goddess, he was certain now. The cop didn't know it, but the girl had actually given a perfect description of Zarek. The vampire was indeed the devil, and he was stalking Lindsay Rosen. But he hadn't taken her yet, which meant that Reece had the chance to catch the bastard in the act. Once he did, he was going to make Zarek suffer.

In a veritable frenzy, Reece began to gather all of the papers strewn across the bed. He threw them and his clothes haphazardly into his bag. He needed to get out of here. Now. Zarek could strike at any moment, and time was running out for Lindsay Rosen.

_

* * *

_

I'm glad this part didn't take so long to write. This goes out to CalliopeMused and Daugain.


	7. Anticipation

Alexandra choked on her own scream as she felt a pair of strong arms come around her. Her maker's arms. Dragging her under the surface of the cold water. She fought, but her body felt slow and heavy. Before long, she was too exhausted to move.

God, no. She was dying again.

_Please, just let me die this time. Really die._

She inhaled, surrendering to the sea...

But no water filled her lungs. Only air.

Slowly, she realized that she was lying on her side on a bed, facing a wall. The ocean had only been a dream. God, she hadn't had a nightmare that vivid in so long.

She closed her eyes. Breathed. But then the world was too dark from behind her eyelids. Her feeble grasp on reality started to slip away. The arms were pulling her under again. The ocean was washing over her.

Lex opened her eyes. The sun-splashed white paint on the wall nearly blinded her.

The arms were still around her; she hadn't been dreaming that part. They weren't bruising, though, and there was a familiar tingling where they touched her bare skin.

Reece was with her.

The touch of his mind was strange, though. Cold. Chaotic. The feel of it reminded her of dead leaves caught in a whirlwind of autumn air. And his arms were too long, his hold too unyielding—Reece knew that she could easily become claustrophobic if he held her that tightly, especially when his weight was on top of her. And then she suddenly realized that the connection between them was far too jarring.

This wasn't Reece…and that meant it could only be one other person.

Turning onto her back, she looked up into the arresting face of Aiden St. Helen.

She had forgotten how striking he was. After they'd parted, his height was the only thing that she could clearly remember about him. All of the small, but stunning details—the graceful lines of his high cheekbones, the thickness of his eyelashes, the silvery light in his eyes—had somehow escaped her. For a moment, she could only stare at him, riveted.

Then she heard his name on her lips. "Aiden?"

He smiled softly, and it startled her. She wasn't sure that she'd ever seen him smile, at least not like this—without sadness or bitterness.

Lex blinked. "What are you doing here?"

His smile changed, becoming more sardonic. "I could ask you the same question," he replied.

She had forgotten his voice as well. He could sound very cold, very coarse—she'd learned that when she met him on the subway in D.C.—but his voice could also be suffused with warmth that made her shiver, as it did now.

Looking up at him, Alexandra felt a vague sense of déjà vu. He had woken her from a deep sleep once before, while she'd been a prisoner of Circle Daybreak. He was just as close now as he had been that day, and he was gazing at her with the same rapt intensity.

She wondered, then, if she should be afraid. The last time he'd woken her like this, he had hurt her. But that hadn't been his fault, not really. And besides, she'd already forgiven him for it.

Still, he had tried to murder a Wild Power. The only reason he'd failed was because the girl, Genevieve Harman, had been his soulmate. Lex was a Wild Power now, and she had the feeling that if Aiden wanted her dead, whatever connection existed between them would not stop him.

But if he were here to kill her, wouldn't he have done it already? Hell, if he really wanted her dead, he could have let Angie Catellini finish her off last year. Instead, he had risked his own life to save hers.

No, Lex decided that she was not afraid. At least not of him. It was her nightmare that was tying the ice-cold knots in her stomach. It was the memory of her maker that terrified her. She could still feel him—his teeth, his hands, his body. She could suddenly feel every second of the torture she had endured, all twenty-seven years, eight months, three weeks, and two days of it. Every time she blinked, she saw his black eyes boring into hers. The pounding of her heart sounded like his short, sinister laughter.

Lex shuddered violently, the images raining down on her again. Her teeth chattered. She tried to turn onto her side, needing to draw her knees up and cage herself against the world, but Aiden's arms held her in place.

She fought him again. Why was he holding her like this? She couldn't move, and she couldn't bear it. Her maker used to tie her down, time after time, year after year. Whether she was silent or she screamed. Whether she shouted or she cried. None of it mattered. It all ended the same way. After enough time had passed, she'd been so damaged, so totally destroyed, that she hadn't even needed to be restrained any more. He would hurt her and she would cry out for more.

"Look at me," Aiden said. His voice sliced through her memories, like a sliver of light cutting through the darkness. Lex had been so lost that she hadn't realized that he'd released her. "Let it go. He can't hurt you any more. Let it go."

"I can't," she sobbed. How could he ever understand? "He's inside me. He always will be. He'll never let me go."

"He already has."

She closed her eyes, still trembling terribly.

_Don't try to escape. I will always find you._

"Don't go there, Lex," Aiden said. "Stay with me."

He was reading her thoughts, and she hated it. Her maker did that to her, preying on her mind as savagely as he did her body.

_Your mind is your own. Everything is okay_.

She felt the icy water upon her again, sucking her under, pressing against her chest. There was no air. She couldn't breathe.

Aiden shook her. "Look at me, Lex," he pleaded urgently. "Your mind is your own. Say it, come on."

"My mind is my own," she gasped, forcing herself to focus on his beautiful face. In that moment, she understood that Aiden wasn't reading her thoughts to hurt her. Her mind was entangled in the web of the past, and he was trying to cut her free. He was saving her from her own self.

"Good. Now breathe slower. Like this." He inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly.

Lex didn't know that she was hyperventilating until she tried to breathe with him. It wasn't enough air. Damn it, she needed more air.

"Deep breaths, Lex."

She tried again. "My mind is my own," she whispered as she exhaled. "My mind is my own."

Gradually, her heartbeat slowed. The crushing weight on her chest eased. The shadows lurking in the edges of her vision cleared.

"You okay?" Aiden asked her after a while.

"I think so," she replied. "Thanks. I haven't had a panic attack like that in…" She couldn't remember how long it had been. Since she'd met Reece, probably.

"Any time." He smiled at her as he pulled back. Then his eyes quickly darted away and the smile vanished. "Sorry."

Lex frowned, not understanding at first, but then she looked past him, at the desk at the foot of the bed. One of her shirts was hanging from the back of the chair. For the first time, it struck her that she'd gotten into bed naked last night after hanging up all of her soaked clothes. And her blanket had slipped dangerously low during her panic attack.

She should have been embarrassed, but she was too drained to care. Still, she made sure that the blanket was covering her as she sat up and leaned her back against the wall. "It's okay," she assured him.

Aiden walked over to the door of her motel room, which had been knocked off its hinges. It was now lying crookedly against the wall, about to topple over. He picked it up and leaned it on the door frame. There were still gaps through which the wind blew, but at least no one from the parking lot would be able to see into the room.

"It's cold in here," he remarked, starting to close the windows that she had thrown open during the night.

"I thought vampires don't feel the cold," she replied.

"We don't, usually. But you do. You're shivering." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Or is that just the effect that I have on you?"

Lex was too taken aback by that comment to answer. It hadn't sounded like Aiden at all—it had been too playful, too flirtatious.

He sat back down on the side of the bed, stretching his long legs out in front of him. Then he nodded toward her empty bag on the floor. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Sort of," she murmured. "I just don't know where yet."

"I know the feeling." He looked at her again, his eyes suddenly fixed on hers. "Where's your witch?"

The question had been inevitable. Lex should have seen it coming, but she hadn't. There was nothing she could do but give him the truth. "I don't know. Not here." She paused. "Why are you here?"

He winced slightly. "Do you want me to go?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just…how did you find me?"

"How do you think?" Aiden asked.

Alexandra's lips twitched. Answering a question with a question was an old defensive tactic that she herself had perfected. She hadn't been on the receiving end of it very often, though.

She gave up. Neither of them spoke for a while, but the silence wasn't awkward. It was surprisingly nice, being with someone who knew her—really knew her. Before Reece, she'd hated it when anyone got too close to her. She had even held her lover, Tristan, more than an arm's length away. But she'd gotten used to the intimacy between her and Reece, and she realized now that she actually missed it.

"I called you last night," Aiden said. His voice was a little too loud as it broke through the silence. "Or, I guess it was the night before, now."

Lex was startled. "You did? But I don't…" She trailed off as she remembered the last night she'd spent in Montreal. "The crank call."

He bowed his head.

"Why didn't you just say something?"

"What was I supposed to say?" he asked.

"I don't know. 'Hi' would have been a good start."

Aiden laughed, shaking his head. "You know, that honestly never occurred to me."

She smiled at him, but it quickly faded. "So…what did you want?" Lex asked.

She was expecting him to reply with another counter-question, but he surprised her. "To talk." There was suddenly something bewildering in his pale gray eyes. "I've wanted to talk to you for a long time."

"Why?" she asked before she could stop herself.

He just looked at her, and in that moment, she knew. She could feel the aching loneliness that enveloped him. His soulmate was dead, his life had been effectively obliterated, his existence was meaningless. Aiden had nothing left. No reason to live, no desire to carry on. There was only one thing keeping him alive: words that Lex had spoken the last time they had been alone in D.C.

_I like you, too._

No, this couldn't be. They both had soulmates of their own. The link between them was never supposed to have happened. Alexandra had essentially _stolen_ it from Genevieve when she'd killed her. If anything, Aiden should hate Lex for killing his real soulmate. He shouldn't—

"She's gone," he responded succinctly to her thoughts, which still disturbed her. "And I know there was something between us back in Washington. Haven't you ever thought about it?"

Again, his directness caught her off-guard. She'd thought that he was someone who avoided difficult questions—both asking and answering them.

Her instinctive answer was no, but as she opened her mouth to reply, her mind drifted back to the day he had woken her in the Daybreak compound. Pinning her against the wall, he had run his hands all over her. His breath had been warm in her ear as he spoke in soft, seductive tones. And while she had been terrified, some part of her had wanted him. When she'd tried to push him away, she had only pulled him closer.

Alexandra hadn't let herself think about that since she'd left D.C. with Reece, but remembering those few minutes with Aiden now, she felt a hot tremor go through her.

He seemed encouraged when she didn't answer him. Turning to face her, he moved closer until he was at her side. Tentatively, he reached up to brush her hair away from her face. The soulmate link hummed as his fingers grazed her temple, its pitch all wrong, but its sound soothing nonetheless.

And so very distracting. God, she was grateful for that. She didn't want to think about her maker or Reece. She didn't want to think about anything.

Aiden touched her face again, almost as if he were experimenting. His hand was trembling as he stroked her cheek. His breaths were too shallow. He was nervous, Lex realized with amazement. She was making the vampire once known as Hellraiser nervous.

But why? He must have touched his own soulmate like this. Maybe even a few hundred other girls, with his looks. So why did he seem so...naive? Unsure?

Lex watched him, watching her. "You do feel it, don't you?" he asked softly, his feather-light touch brushing over her forehead, down her other cheek.

The sound of his voice was hypnotizing. It coaxed the answer from her almost against her will. "Yes."

There was hunger in his gaze then, raw and unabashed, and it ignited a flame of desire within her. Her heart started to pound again, but not from fear. This time, it was from the thrill of anticipation.

He sensed it, recognition dawning in his gray eyes. His hands became bolder, caressing her bare shoulders, the nape of her neck.

She should stop him. This wasn't right—though, as his fingers swept into her hair, nails grazing her scalp, Lex couldn't quite remember why.

"You said you wanted to talk to me," she murmured, trying to buy some time. This was happening so fast. "This isn't exactly talking."

Undeterred, Aiden cupped the back of her neck. He drew her forward, closer to him. "Tell me that you don't want this. Tell me that you don't want me and I'll stop."

She did want him. That was the problem. It had been so long since someone had looked at her like this, touched her like this, and it felt so good. Her thoughts fled, her fears dissolved. She had no past, no future. There was nothing but this moment.

He bent his head, leaning down as she unconsciously tilted her face up. Her eyes fluttered shut.

And then he kissed her.

His warm lips were soft on hers, and Lex shuddered at the feel of his fingertips tracing up and down her back.

God, it was so sweet. So innocent.

Something inside of her snapped. She let the blanket fall away as she climbed onto his lap. Aiden groaned against her lips as she kissed him hungrily. Impatiently, she reached for the hem of his shirt, pulling away from him long enough to rip it over his head. Then her mouth crashed down over his again.

He held her against him as he shifted their position, gently laying her back down on the bed. But Lex pushed at his chest. Shoved him onto his back. Straddled him.

She saw the shock in his eyes as she leaned down to run her tongue over his throat, up to his ear. His breath was coming in short gasps underneath her. "You started this," she whispered huskily in his ear. "So try to keep up with me now."

Aiden tangled his fingers in her hair, wrenching her head back so hard that it almost hurt. "Likewise," he growled. Then he pulled her lips back down to his.

Alexandra wanted to laugh. Oh, he thought he knew, but Aiden had no idea what he was in for.

* * *

The drive to the tiny rural town had seemed very long, but it had only taken him a little over an hour. When Reece first arrived, he searched for Lindsay Rosen's address, and then he drove by the small farmhouse.

Surveying the place, he could sense that it was empty, and when he tried the front door, he found that it was actually locked. The break-in had at least shaken up the Rosen family enough for them to make that change, but unfortunately the lock was ridiculously easy for anyone with a credit card—hell, or even a library card—to pick.

The living room was small and very clean. Looking around, Reece's attention was immediately drawn to the family portrait on the mantle over the fireplace. The young girl in the photograph was pretty—slim and petite, with long brown hair cascading past her waist.

To his surprise, Lindsay didn't resemble Alexandra in the least. Reece had believed that Zarek would fit the profile of many serial killers, whose victims were startlingly similar. But maybe they were alike in other ways.

He stepped away from the picture and walked down the hall until he found Lindsay's bedroom. A quick search told him that she was a studious, but popular girl. There were several pictures of her with friends taped to the mirror that hung over her dresser. She was neat. Organized. And perhaps a little mature for her age.

Reece still believed that aside from the maturity, Lindsay was nothing like Lex. His soulmate didn't care about order, and while she was smart, she had never been interested in finishing high school or going to college. She was also by far the most introverted person that he had ever met. Reece knew that even when Lex had been human, before Zarek had ever touched her, she'd been a loner.

So why had Zarek wanted her? And why did he want Lindsay now?

As Reece turned to leave, something caught his attention. A few loose strands of Lindsay's brown hair still clung to her pillowcase. He picked them off and slipped them into his pocket. He would need them later.

He drove around the town, trying to memorize the roads and buildings. During the ride, he made a few phone calls, confirming that both of her parents were at work—the family had not left town—and that Lindsay was in school.

Once he had mapped out the town in his mind, Reece headed over to the elementary school and parked in a lot across the street, leaving his engine running.

A few buses were already lined up in front of the building, ready for students to board. From where he was parked, Reece had a clear view of each bus as well as the school's entrance. Checking the clock on his dashboard, he saw that classes wouldn't let out for another fifteen minutes, so there was nothing for him to do now but wait.

While he watched the door, the questions nagged at him again: Why Lindsay? And why Lex? The two girls were so different, and yet there had been something about both of them that had attracted Zarek.

Reece realized that he was probably never going to know the answer to either question because he wasn't going to give the bastard a chance to explain. And maybe that was better. Maybe this was another thing that he just didn't really want to know.

He had learned so much about evil since he met Lex. In her mind, he'd seen things that he had never imagined, not in his worst nightmares. It made it hard to even touch her sometimes. And while it was worse when he was with her, it still haunted him when they were apart.

He felt evil everywhere now, not just in the Night World. He sensed it in a smile, in a laugh, in a sideways glance. When he saw strangers on the street, he couldn't stop wondering if they beat their children or molest them or maybe just destroy their self-worth, one biting remark at a time. He watched the news and he knew that his old sense of honor and fairness did not have a place in this world any more.

Most days, he didn't understand how Lex could bear it. He didn't know how she could live in this world, knowing the things that she knew. And yet she did. Sometimes, she even seemed happy, as if she had forgotten about what had happened to her. As if she accepted it. Goddess knew that he simply could not.

An alarming shiver shook him as he thought about Alexandra. Normally he couldn't feel her when they were so far apart, but at that moment he could sense a strange energy coming from her. It was almost as if—

A large, navy blue SUV entered the parking lot. Rather than pulling into a space, the vehicle idled in the aisle. Most likely this was some soccer mom waiting to pick up her kids, but the woman was also blocking his view of the school's entrance. Reece cursed as he cut the engine of his car. He got out, slamming the door as hard as he could, and walked towards the school.

Damn it, he didn't want to be out in the open like this. Zarek could be watching Lindsay right now, and Reece couldn't afford to give himself away. He headed around the side of the building and ducked behind a line of hedges that he hoped would hide him. At least when he pushed a few branches aside, he had a decent view of the front of the school. After he noted which bus she got in, he would have to run back to his car to follow her.

A few minutes later, children started to pour out of the doors and onto the sidewalk. Reece reached into his coat pocket for the strands of Lindsay's hair that he had taken from her room. Holding them in his palm, he quickly whispered the words of a spell and then blew the strands into the cold, December wind.

He kept his eyes on the crowd as students ran for their buses, or stood on the sidewalk, talking to friends. Even after the first wave of buses left and a second wave came in, he did not see any sign of Lindsay.

Cold dread churned in his stomach. Had he missed her? Was she at some club or practice that was held inside the school? He couldn't go looking for her in there—he would be too conspicuous. But what choice did he have? He had to find her before Zarek made his move.

As Reece stepped away from the hedges, he finally spotted her. The spell had worked—Lindsay was enveloped in a pinkish aura that only he could see. He would have recognized her anyway, though. Her hair was short, but it was cut so unevenly that some locks were much longer than others, and the shortest lengths jutted out sharply from her scalp.

She'd made no attempt to hide her hair underneath a hat. Instead, she displayed the jagged cut openly to the world. She seemed so poised walking down the sidewalk that Reece believed anyone could stare at her hair, and she honestly would not care. He had never seen such dignity, such self-possession, in someone this young, and it was suddenly clear to him why Zarek had been drawn to this girl.

Reece waited a minute before he followed Lindsay, putting a careful distance between them. While he walked, he kept half of his mind focused on her, and let the other half scan the area for any sign of Zarek. He needed to be prepared to act on less than a moment's notice.

She was heading towards the center of town, which, if he remembered correctly from his earlier drive, consisted of a grocery store, a bank, two churches, a library, a few shops, and the police station. Given that she was a studious girl with a bag of books strapped to her back, Reece guessed that she was going to the library.

A bead of sweat trickled down his back. In spite of the cold weather, he was overheating inside his winter coat. He was too nervous, too edgy. His heart was hammering inside his chest. After nineteen agonizing months, he was about to catch Zarek. He could practically feel the sadistic vampire nearby. His skin was prickling, scalding pins and needles stabbing at him.

Evil. Evil everywhere…

Up ahead of him, Lindsay froze and spun around.

Reece forced himself to keep walking nonchalantly, as if he hadn't noticed, but in truth, he was startled. He was walking far enough behind her that she couldn't have heard him, and he hadn't been staring at her hard enough for her to sense it. She was more perceptive than a normal human should be, and it made him wonder if there was any witch blood in her lineage.

She turned back and started walking again, but she glanced over her shoulder at him a few times, trying and failing to be subtle about it.

Reece crossed the street. He really didn't need Lindsay to be spooked right now. He had to assume that Zarek was watching her as well, and her behavior would draw too much attention to Reece's presence.

He ambled along, letting her walk further ahead while he pretended to glance through the windows of the shops next to him. The library was still a few blocks away, so even if she were a little too far away for his comfort, at least he would have her in sight.

As he feigned interest in a jade necklace on display in the jewelry store, however, he saw her reflection turn and then walk up a set of stairs.

Reece whipped around. Lindsay wasn't going to the library after all. She was going into one of the churches.

_

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_

The computer is being pissy, so I can't reread the reviews from the last part.. but I think I owe a thank you to CalliopeMused, Mandy (I can't make any promises about Lex and Reece. You'll have to wait and see.), and Daugain.


	8. In Too Deep

Lindsay Rosen made the sign of the cross. "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three weeks since my last confession."

"And what are your sins?" the priest asked in a gentle voice from behind the screen.

She wasn't used to making confession in a small booth like this. In her own church—the one in the neighboring town where her parents had gotten married and she had been baptized—she normally sat in a room across from Father Paul. She'd heard that some people found it embarrassing, but Lindsay liked being able to see his eyes when he told her that her sins were forgiven. Because then she knew for sure that he meant it. Inside the confessional in this church, she could only see the outline of the priest's face through the screen. It felt like she was talking to a shadow.

Lindsay told herself for the bazillionth time that her imagination was running away with her again—as her mother often said it did. The priest was not a dark shadow. She was not being watched. The man with the red hair who had been walking behind her on the sidewalk had not been following her. No one wanted to hurt her.

But for the bazillionth time, it didn't help. This wasn't like the night after she'd watched _Poltergeist_ at Stephanie Hamilton's house, when she'd been afraid that a ghost was in her bedroom. Somewhere in her heart that night, Lindsay had known that the white shape in the darkness was just her coat hanging on the back of her door. She'd known that the howling that made her skin break out in goose bumps was just the wind. Over and over, she'd repeated, "It's only my imagination," and she'd been able to chase her fear away. Now, no matter how many times she told herself that the eyes she felt on her weren't real, that no one was after her, that the person who had cut off her hair was just a regular man who would be stopped by a lock and an alarm system, Lindsay didn't believe it.

She blinked and she saw his eyes again—the red-haired man's eyes—and she trembled. They hadn't been red, as she'd always imagined the Devil's eyes would be, but they had been so bright and shining and _green_. Greener than the emerald ring Lindsay's mother sometimes wore. Greener than the field of grass behind her house in the summer. Greener than the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on the ceiling in her bedroom. It wasn't normal. It wasn't natural. God had never created a color like that.

After Lindsay had turned away from the man, she'd noticed the steeple of St. Michael's Church up ahead of her, and she couldn't help coming inside. It wasn't her church, but it was still a house of God, and she'd needed to feel safe. The next Mass wasn't for another hour, but she'd gone into the confessional to talk to the priest. He would help her feel connected to God again, to know that He was watching over her.

As Lindsay looked around the tiny booth now, she only felt like it was the man with the red hair who was watching her. "I'm really scared," she whispered to the priest.

He laughed softly. "Being afraid is not a sin, little one."

"I know," she said sheepishly. "But my dad says that God has a plan…and I'm scared of it."

"Please, go on."

"Something has been spying on me. I think it's something evil." Lindsay couldn't bring herself to tell him that she believed it was Satan. The policeman this morning had made fun of her, and if this priest made fun of her too, she didn't think she could bear it.

"Why do you think that is part of God's plan?" the priest asked curiously.

Lindsay faltered. "Isn't everything?"

"No, not necessarily. God grants good things for those who follow Him, but when one of His followers goes astray, God will wash His hands of him—or her—and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak."

"That's not…that's not what Father Paul told me," Lindsay said, her throat closing. "He said that God loves everyone—even those who turn their backs on Him. We can't know what His plans are, and sometimes people suffer, but they'll get to go to Heaven."

The priest was quiet for a moment. And then he suddenly asked her, "Do you like to show off, little one?"

Her mouth fell open and her cheeks burned. "No," she replied in shock. "Of course not."

"Do you like knowing all the answers? Having the other students in class look at you with your hand raised?"

"No."

"You can lie to yourself all you want," he said coolly, "but you can't lie to God. Are you swearing to Him that you have not practiced the sin of pride?"

Tears stung her eyes. It was Lindsay's worst fear—that she was as proud as this priest seemed to believe. She hated the spark of glee she felt when she got an A on an exam or when she read the notes of praise the teachers wrote on her report card every quarter. It felt too good, and she knew that it was wrong. She'd even stopped volunteering answers in class for a while, but she hadn't been able to keep it up. When teachers called on her, she couldn't help answering them. And her hair—the rush of pleasure she felt when people admired her hair—she knew that was wrong, but she hadn't done anything about it. Even though she'd prayed for forgiveness every night, it didn't really count because she'd known that she was not going to change.

"Do you know the First and Second Commandments?" the priest asked her now.

Lindsay sniffled. She knew all of the Ten Commandments. Her catechism class had learned them before making their first Holy Communion, but she'd actually memorized the passage from the Bible. Her teacher had been very impressed with her and Lindsay had glowed inside. Now she only felt sick.

"I am the Lord your God," she whispered, "who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."

The priest laughed softly. Smugly. As if he had won an argument. "Very good. So you see, God is God, and you are nothing, little one. When you practice the sin of pride, you are putting yourself above Him. And if there is something evil stalking you, He is letting it happen because you deserve it. Why should God protect you when you don't abide by His rules?"

"I'm sorry!" Lindsay cried, her voice too loud inside the small booth. Her body shook with a silent sob. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Yes, yes," the priest said impatiently. "Finish it now."

At first Lindsay didn't understand what he wanted, but then she remembered how she was supposed to end confession. "For this and for all the sins of my life, I am sorry."

"The Act of Contrition, now, please," the priest prompted.

She was crying so hard that she had trouble saying the words. And she couldn't stop shaking. "O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they have offended Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen."

The priest began the prayer of absolution, but Lindsay barely paid attention. She could only focus on how bored he sounded. He wasn't actually forgiving her. And if he didn't, how could God? "Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

"Amen," she whispered in response.

An arm suddenly tore through the screen that separated her booth from the priest's, knocking it aside. Lindsay screamed as a hand grabbed her butchered hair, yanking her head into the open window where the screen had been. She tried to break free, but her hair started to rip from her scalp and she screamed again. It hurt—so much. The hand pulled her into the priest's side of the confessional, and she yielded to it willingly. Anything to stop the pain.

Once she was inside his booth, the hand abruptly let go of her hair. She fell to the floor inside of the tiny space, her head banging into the side wall of the confessional. "It seems that God hasn't forgiven you after all, Lindsay," the priest said.

She looked up at him and her blood ran cold.

Perfect, pale face. Neatly trimmed dark hair. Pink lips. White teeth glinting. Black eyes. He looked like an angel, but Lindsay knew that he was the Devil. Satan. Lucifer. Beelzebub. The Fallen Angel. So many names for the same evil, but one thing was clear: this was the person who had been watching her, who had stood over her bed last night, who had cut off her hair. And he was right—she hadn't been forgiven. God was letting this evil have her. No bolt of lightening would save her. No rain of fire. It was just Lindsay and the Devil, alone together.

He reached one long arm down and grasped the fabric of her coat, lifting her to her feet. In her terror, she allowed it to happen, but she squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to look at him. If she did, then she was afraid that he would hypnotize her somehow. And then she would turn to salt or to stone.

Cold fingers held her face. Her cheeks were still wet from her tears. She felt his body shudder against hers as he breathed in deeply. "You smell so good," he said in a way that made her gag.

Still holding the collar of her coat, the Devil kicked the door of the confessional open with one foot. While he was in motion, Lindsay slipped her arms out of her coat and, free from his grasp, she tumbled out of the booth. She scrambled back until she came up against the first row of pews, and then let out an ear-piercing screech.

The Devil stepped out of the confessional languidly and let her coat drop to the floor. He didn't seem worried about her screams, and somehow that left Lindsay more terrified than ever. She started to pray. "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven—"

"God won't save you now, little one," the Devil interrupted, his voice as gentle as it had been through the screen. "He's turned His back on you, as I said. You are mine now." He took another step closer and looked down into her eyes.

Suddenly, Lindsay knew that there were worse things than death. Far worse. And she was about to face them.

* * *

Reece ran up the steps of the church and burst through the heavy wooden door. Inside, silence and the heavy scent of incense greeted him. He walked up the aisle in the eerie stillness, taking in the layout of the building. It was shaped like a "T", with the pulpit positioned at the intersection of the three wings. There were several dozen rows of pews on the ground floor, and a few more rows in the balcony that lined each wing.

All of them were empty. There was no sign of Lindsay Rosen. But he'd seen her come inside here, which meant that she was hiding or she had exited through one of the side doors. Clearly he had, indeed, spooked her. She'd known that he'd been following her and she had come inside the church to lose him.

It was a little strange, having someone instinctively fear him. Reece was far more used to people trusting him on sight. It had something to do with his appearance, but far more to do with the calming aura that he usually possessed. However, he supposed that he hadn't been calm in several months. Agitation, frustration, and exhaustion ruled him now. He couldn't help wondering what Lindsay had seen when she'd looked at him.

Walking down the side aisle, he dipped his head, checking for her underneath the rows of pews, but there was nothing except for dust bunnies that seemed to have been growing since the church was first built. After he had checked all three wings, Reece walked back to the front of the church to find the stairway up to the balcony. This is where he would have hidden if he were Lindsay. She could watch him from up here without him seeing her. Then again, maybe she knew that if he caught her up here, she would be trapped. She would have to sneak by him to get back to the stairwell, and in this silence, the rustle of her clothing as she moved would seem as loud as a tornado. The sound of her shoes clicking against the tiled floor would echo off the walls and the high, arched ceiling.

Reece himself was beginning to find the silence unnerving. If it hadn't been so quiet, though, he might have missed the muffled scream that drifted through the air as he was making his way around the balcony. Immediately, he pinpointed the origin of the sound as the right wing of the church.

But that couldn't be right, he had already checked there, damn it!

Another scream rang out, louder and sharper this time, and Reece was running toward the sound before he even realized it. As he rounded the corner, he noticed for the first time the confessional in the back of the wing. He cursed himself for missing it. It had been too long since he'd last slept. It was a foolish, rookie mistake, and after all the years he'd spent working for Circle Daybreak, he should have known better.

When he finally caught sight of Lindsay, she was cowering on the floor in front of the confessional, trying to claw her way back. She didn't look anything like the self-possessed girl he'd seen outside the elementary school. Terror had stolen her poise and her confidence. In that moment, she was just another petrified ten year-old girl.

As soon as the tall, dark vampire stepped out of the confessional, Reece nearly forgot Lindsay's existence. The vampire was dressed in a black shirt, black pants, and the white collar of a priest, but Reece could not tear his eyes away from that face. He knew every inch of it. He'd seen it laughing and snarling and cold. He knew the coldness of his skin, the darkness of his eyes.

"God won't save you now, little one," the vampire said. His voice was as soft as Reece had heard it in Alexandra's mind, and he instinctively wanted to recoil. A glance at Lindsay told him that she was feeling the same thing. "He's turned His back on you, as I said. You are mine now."

_The hell she is…_

Reece vaulted over the balcony wall as rage boiled away the last of his rational mind, and he threw himself at the vampire he'd been hunting for so long.

Zarek must have heard his thought or sensed his movement, because the instant before Reece collided with him, he took a single step to the side. The witch slammed into the floor at Zarek's feet.

Bones had shattered, but it didn't matter. He didn't hesitate to think about the pain. In the next second, Reece swung his foot out, sweeping the vampire's legs out from underneath him. His long limbs flailing, Zarek gracelessly toppled to the floor.

"Lindsay, run!" Reece shouted at the girl, and then he got to his feet in one smooth motion. He couldn't afford to look at her because he needed to keep all of his senses trained on Zarek, but he could see in his peripheral vision that she didn't move. "Go! Now!"

The vampire was up again, standing between Reece and Lindsay. With his heart pounding, the witch watched him, ready to counter-strike if Zarek made the slightest movement. Instead of attacking, though, the vampire's black eyes fixed on Reece searchingly.

Adrenaline had clouded the witch's mind and it was a moment before he realized what Zarek was doing. As soon as he did, he started to panic. He should have known. He should've been prepared. He should have cast the spell back in the car—he'd known that he could run into Zarek at any moment, but he'd been dense and rash and reckless and _stupid_.

In the midst of his hysteria, the words of the spell spilled from his lips almost unconsciously. It was the spell he'd used back in Washington to cloak his and Lex's mind from Angie Catellini. Lex had told him that Angie's power was similar to her own—and hopefully that meant it was similar to Zarek's as well. It was the only weapon Reece had against him.

He felt a cold sensation radiate from the back of his head as the spell took effect, but from the sudden iridescent light in Zarek's eyes, Reece knew that the vampire had already gleaned too much from him. His moment of hesitation had cost him everything.

"Of course," Zarek whispered. His breath came faster as he reached the brink of discovery. "I would know that rage anywhere."

A stake shot into Reece's right hand from a spring-loaded device strapped to his forearm. In the next instant, he threw it at the vampire, his aim dead-on, but Zarek moved like lightning, dodging the stake and advancing upon Reece before the witch could retreat. By throwing the stake he'd left his body open, and with one devastating blow, Zarek knocked him to the ground. His head smacked into the floor and his vision went dark.

When Reece could see again, there was a black boot pressed against his throat, pinning him to the ground. With one small push, Zarek could crush his windpipe.

"Where is she?" the vampire asked. His voice was still soft and pleasant, but there was something ugly in his face that Reece recognized all too well. "How is she still alive?"

"You'll never know." As Zarek increased the pressure on his throat, Reece let his power flow into his hands that were lying lifelessly on the floor. Once enough of it had gathered, he discharged two balls of orange witchfire from his open palms.

The fire slammed into the vampire like a freight train, lifting him off his feet and plowing him back into the wall. The crushing weight off his throat, Reece coughed and choked. As soon as he had gotten a full breath of air, he ran over to Lindsay, grabbing her arm and tugging her upwards. "Move," he ordered urgently.

She didn't need any more prompting than that. Once she was on her feet, she ran like a deer down the aisle, back toward the main entrance of the church. When they had gotten down the flight of steps and hit the sidewalk, however, she tried to tear herself away from him.

Reece tightened his grip on her arm. "Come on," he said.

Lindsay made herself a dead weight as he tried to pull her forward. "No!" she screamed. "Stranger! Stranger! He's trying to kidnap me!" Evidently, even though she might have been thankful that Reece had gotten her away from Zarek, she still didn't trust him. Now that she saw the opportunity to get away from him as well, she was going to take it. Honestly, Reece was impressed. This girl was smart.

But Goddess, she was loud. Every person in a five-block radius could probably hear her, and her screams were effective—a few people were already starting to approach him, looking at Reece murderously. They couldn't hurt him, but they could easily slow him down. And up the steps behind him, he heard the church door open. Zarek was coming…

Letting go of Lindsay, he held his hands out and fired a surge of magick that shot out from him in all directions, like a seismic wave.

The world froze. The wind ceased. The humans who had started toward Reece, alerted by Lindsay's screams, had stopped mid-stride. Zarek stood like a statue at the threshold of the church, one of his arms still thrust outwards from the way he'd thrown the door open. Wisps of snowflakes that had been lifted by the breeze from the drifts on the side of the road were suspended on the air.

Of course, the spell hadn't truly stopped time. It had merely slowed it down. The people who seemed frozen were actually moving, but they were moving so slowly relative to Reece that he would have to watch them for a while to really notice it—like the hour hand on a clock.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that long—if he did, he would stake Zarek here and now. Once the wave of magick had passed, time would resume its normal pace. Reece had never cast a spell like this before, but he estimated that it would last for maybe ten seconds. Fifteen tops. Running back to stake Zarek would be too risky and—Goddess damn it all—he had left his fucking crossbow in the fucking car along with his brain.

Reece just hoped that the few seconds he'd bought himself would give him enough of a head start to get Lindsay to his car safely. He picked her rigid body up off the ground and sprinted down the sidewalk as fast as he could. No looking back.

Time sped up again as he was crossing the street to the next block, just as he was passing in front of an oncoming car. To the driver, Reece had literally appeared out of nowhere, and even though he tried to slam on his breaks, it was far too late. Reece jumped and by sheer luck and force of will, he was able to hurdle over the corner of the car's hood without slowing down.

Lindsay was still and silent in his arms, her face turned into his chest. Dazed, probably. She couldn't understand how she'd been screaming out in front of the church one second, and the next she was over a block away in a stranger's arms. Reece would deal with the explanations later. For now, he was just glad that she wasn't fighting him any more.

When they reached his car, Reece wrenched the driver's side door open and shoved Lindsay over the console and into the passenger's seat. Ignoring the tremor in his hands, he got the key in the ignition. Tires squealing, he drove over the curb and a small row of snow-covered plants and pulled out onto the street. Slamming the pedal all the way down to the floor, he raced through the downtown area.

It wasn't until he was past the town limits that Reece checked his rearview mirror. He was half-expecting to see Zarek clinging to the back of the car, but there was no one behind him. There was nothing back there but empty road. They were safe, for the moment at least. That would have to be enough.

Lindsay was staring at him. Reece could feel it even with his eyes locked on the road ahead. When he finally glanced at her, she seemed…all right. Scared and small, but also curious. Amazed. And she was certainly calmer than he was.

"Are you an angel?" she asked in a small voice.

Reece almost laughed, but he didn't want to embarrass her. He just smiled. "No."

"A demon?"

"No."

"So what are you, then?"

He would have to tell her at some point, but Reece didn't want to do it now. Learning about the Night World might be too much for her at this point. It might shatter her fragile composure. He just said, "I'm not going to hurt you, Lindsay."

Then he wanted to laugh again because he'd said the exact same thing to Lex when he'd first met her. He hoped that Lindsay would be easier to convince than his soulmate had been.

"How do you know my name?" the girl asked. "Have you been watching me too? I saw you out on the street."

Reece paused, choosing his words carefully. "I haven't been watching you, exactly. I've been trying to track down the guy who attacked you in the church."

"How come?"

So many questions. He sighed and adjusted his rearview mirror. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he was starting to feel a painful throb in his knees, his wrists, and the heels of his hands. His neck ached. Suddenly, Reece was beyond drained, beyond exhausted. His body was battered, he'd put his soulmate in danger, and the spell he'd cast on the street had burned through every last trace of his power, and then some. His only consolation was that he had saved Lindsay's life.

"Put your seatbelt on, okay?" he asked her.

She did it quickly, almost as if she were scandalized by having forgotten in the first place. Then for a short while, she was quiet. Somehow that was worse. Reece was almost thankful when she spoke up again. "Can I go home?"

"Not right now, no. It isn't safe."

"What about my family?" she asked softly.

Reece sighed again. "I think they'll be safe. Zarek has other things on his mind." Like the fact that Lex was still alive. Alive and well and almost whole—practically begging for him to destroy her all over again.

"My parents will be worried about me."

"I'm sorry about that," he replied hoarsely.

"What's your name?" Lindsay asked.

"Reece. Cahill."

"Okay. And you promise that you won't hurt me?"

He took his eyes from the road and looked at her directly. "I promise," he said almost fiercely. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. And I'm going to get you back home as soon as I can." His words were strong, but as soon as he said them, Reece remembered how well the last promise he'd made had turned out.

As he pulled onto the highway, he knew that there was no way to deny it any longer: he was in over his head.

_

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_

Thank you to all of you wonderful people who reviewed the last part: CalliopeMused, DarklightShadow, incarnatedsoul, and Daugain (I am very flattered you are bothering to read this even though you are in the middle of a backbacking trip. You rock!) Happy, happy, joy, joy to you all!


	9. Honesty Incarnate

"Goddamn it!" the red-haired man—Reece—snarled. Normally, Lindsay didn't like when people took God's name in vain like that, but he was glaring at his cell phone so furiously that she was too afraid to ask him not to do it. Besides, she was pretty sure that this man had saved her life, so it would probably be rude to ask anything else of him. If God were mad at Reece for swearing, then He would deal with it Himself.

They had been driving for a few hours now and the sun had set long ago. The white light from the headlights of oncoming cars illuminated Reece's face, making his green eyes glow in the darkness, but his eyes seemed less frightening now than they had when she'd first seen him. They were actually sort of pretty.

From the signs on the highway, it seemed like they were heading north, toward Canada. The thought sparked hope inside of her because that meant he would have to stop at the border to present his passport. When he did, Lindsay was going to scream bloody murder. She felt a little sorry for him for that, because he _had_ saved her life and she'd believed him when he said that he wouldn't hurt her, but he was still kidnapping her, and she wanted to go home. Her parents were probably going crazy by now.

Reece swore again and threw his phone in the back of the car.

"What's the matter?" Lindsay asked.

He glanced at her sharply, as if he'd forgotten she was there. "I'm just trying to reach someone and she's not picking up the phone."

"Oh."

_She?_ Lindsay wasn't sure why, but she felt a little disappointed when he said that.

Hastily, she looked away from him, at the phone lying on the back seat. "Can I call my parents?" she pleaded. "Just to tell them that I'm all right? Please?"

The man shook his head. "The police might be tapping their phones. If they can trace the call, they'll know where we are. Which means that it's only a matter of time before Zarek knows where we are. He might already know—I have no fucking clue, but I don't want to risk it."

"How would he know?"

When didn't answer her, Lindsay pursed her lips. It wasn't the first time he had ignored one of her questions and she didn't understand why he was doing it. He'd already told her his name and he was letting her see his face, so he couldn't be afraid of her knowing enough for the police to catch him, if she got away. What could he be hiding?

An image of the orange fireballs he'd thrown at the priest flashed before her eyes, and she knew that that had to be it. Reece had said that he wasn't an angel or a demon, and Lindsay believed him. An angel wouldn't swear like he did and a demon would have left her with the dark-eyed priest, the one he kept calling "Zarek". So what was Reece? And what was Zarek?

"Is he really the Devil?" she asked. "That Zarek guy?"

Reece ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "The closest thing I've ever seen to it," he replied tiredly.

Lindsay shuddered, suddenly wondering how much evil Reece had seen in his life to be able to say that. She saw sin everywhere, but she had the feeling that the evil he'd experienced went far beyond disrespecting parents or teasing classmates or stealing lunch money. Maybe that was why he swore so much, because once you saw the things he had, you just didn't care about the little sins any more.

When Reece saw that she was shaking, he took her hand in his, which made her stomach dip strangely. "Don't be scared," he said softly. "He's not going to get anywhere near you."

Her face felt hot, but she was still shivering inwardly. "My dad told me once to watch what I wish for, because I just might get it," she told him. "I should have listened."

Reece took his eyes from the road and looked intently at her. "What do you mean?"

"I've always hoped that God would show me an angel or some miracle, but after today, all I want to do is go home and forget everything I saw."

"The gods have nothing to do with this, Lindsay," he said flatly. "You didn't ask for this. You haven't done anything wrong. If anything..."

It was odd that he'd said "gods" instead of "God", and it made her a little uncomfortable. But then seeing how drained he looked as his voice trailed off and he turned his bright green eyes back to the road, she felt bad for him. "What?" she asked.

"If anything, this is my fault," he said, gripping the steering wheel like he wanted to strangle it.

"How could it be your fault?"

"I've been after Zarek for a long time now. I should have caught him before this."

"If you were supposed to catch him before, then you would have," she said in a small voice. "There's a reason that you didn't, even if you don't know what it is yet."

Reece gave her a sideways glance and a slight smile, squeezing her hand gently. "You have a lot of faith."

She flushed, hoping that he couldn't see it through the darkness. "Of course," she said with a shrug. "Don't you?"

He sighed. "I used to. Maybe not in the same things you do, but it was faith nonetheless."

"So what happened?"

He was quiet for a long moment, and she didn't think that he would answer her. Then finally he said, "It's complicated."

Lindsay was stung. It sounded like he was saying she was too young and stupid to understand. A lot of people treated her like that, just because she was a kid—even her parents. Up until now, Reece had been talking to her like she was smart, like she was an adult, and she hadn't realized how nice it had been until he brushed her off.

_Nice? He's kidnapping you_, she reminded herself. _He grabbed you off the street, stuffed you in his car, and took you away from your home. If he's being nice to you, it's a lie. He's just trying to get you to do what he wants. So stop talking to him, stop feeling sorry for him, and think of a way out of this!_

Lindsay pried her hand away from Reece's and crossed her arms over her chest. After a few minutes, an idea popped into her head.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she blurted out.

"Can you wait? We've only got another hour or—"

"No," she replied firmly. "I have to go now."

Reece sighed. He was a little annoyed, she could tell, but he was trying to hide it. "Okay. I'll find somewhere to stop."

Her heart started to pound. At first it was easy to ignore—she was only marching quickly over even ground, but when she saw a sign for a rest stop two miles ahead, it felt like she was jogging over a mountain. When she caught sight of its bright lights, she felt like she was running a marathon. Her heart leapt into her throat, blocking her airway. By the time they approached the entrance ramp to the rest stop, she had gone a full minute without breathing, so the gasp she gave as Reece passed straight by it made her head spin.

Her hands flew to the window, her palms pressing on the cool glass helplessly as they left the lights behind them. "You said that you would stop!" she exclaimed.

"I will," he insisted. "But that place will be too crowded. I can't protect you there. I'm going to get off the next exit. Okay?"

Lindsay just nodded, no longer trusting her voice. She clasped her hands together in her lap so that Reece wouldn't see the way they were shaking as her heartbeat began its thundering crescendo all over again.

She held her breath as they reached the next exit, but as promised, Reece pulled off the highway and turned right end of the ramp. And there, less than half a mile ahead, was the golden arches of a McDonalds. Lindsay didn't think she'd ever seen anything so beautiful in her life.

They turned into the lot and Reece parked the car. She lunged for the door handle, but he grabbed her arm. "Wait."

Lindsay was so anxious by that point that she nearly slapped his hand away, but then she realized that he was shrugging his coat off his shoulders. He hissed sharply through clenched teeth as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. "Stiff," he said shortly in response to her curious look. Then he handed the coat to her. "Take it."

It was so warm in the car that Lindsay had forgotten that she'd lost her own coat back in the church. "But you'll be cold."

Reece gave her an amused smile as he opened the driver's side door. "Let me worry about that. Now, come on. I want to get back on the road."

There were only a few people inside the McDonalds—maybe five people behind the counter and two customers sitting at a table, eating their food. Even so, it was enough people to come to her aid as soon as she screamed. Just one screech and she could be back at home in a few hours.

But for some reason she couldn't understand, Lindsay didn't make a sound. She just walked into the women's bathroom while Reece sat down at a table outside of it.

At the sink, she splashed cool water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The sight of her shorn hair startled her a little. She hadn't thought about it since the priest had used her hair to pull her into his side of the confessional. As she ran her fingers through it, she found that her scalp was still tender.

Lindsay knew that she'd been lucky, though. She could only imagine what else that man with the horrible black eyes would have done to her if it weren't for Reece.

_He's kidnapping you_, her mind whispered again.

But Reece wasn't stupid. He knew that once Lindsay was in a public place, it would be easy for her to get away from him. He'd seen the way she could draw attention to him, and he knew how loud she could yell. Yet he'd still stopped when she asked him to. He hadn't even seemed worried that she would try to escape.

He trusted her.

In that moment, Lindsay realized trusted him too. She didn't know how, but he'd saved her from Zarek. He'd fought for her, and she was pretty sure, after hearing him hiss in the car, that he'd gotten hurt doing it. And after all that, he'd given her his coat, facing the cold himself so that she wouldn't have to.

He would sacrifice himself for her without a second thought, plain and simple. So if what he said was true, if Zarek really was after her, then there was no safer place than with Reece.

With a final nod of approval at her own reflection, Lindsay left the bathroom.

Reece got up from the table when he saw her coming, another hiss escaping from his tightly locked jaw. Then his expression slowly softened. "All set?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. "Let's go."

* * *

Karissa opened her eyes as a loud knocking sound woke her from a deep, delicious sleep. She tried to sit up, but there was a heavy weight draped over her. Settling back down, she blinked a few times in the darkness, groggily trying to discern her surroundings because the room she was in was definitely too big to be her bedroom. As soon as she made out the shape of the sofa in the bluish light of the clock on the DVD player, she remembered that she and Nick had never made it back to their room that morning. Now it was past 8 PM and they were still lying on the living room floor, their limbs entangled.

Geez, good make-up sex sure wore you out.

The knocking came again. The sound was louder, but duller this time, as if the person was using the bottom of their fist. Karissa turned her head to see that Nick was still fast asleep next to her, obviously undisturbed by the person pounding on their door. It just wasn't fair: when he was out, he was out.

"Nick?" a voice called through the door. "Karissa? Open up!"

Karissa shook her boyfriend roughly. "Hey," she whispered. "Wake up."

Nick lifted his head and opened his eyes a fraction. "What?" he mumbled. "What is it?"

"There's someone at the door."

"Who is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Sounds like Cahill."

The witch stretched his arms over his head. "I thought you said he was out of town."

"He was," she replied as she started to gather the clothes that were strewn around them. "I guess he's back."

Nick yawned and then rolled over, ready to fall back asleep. "So go let him in."

"Baby, I'm sure Cahill doesn't want to see either of us half-naked," she said, tossing his shirt on top of his bare back.

"He should be so lucky," her boyfriend grumbled. "We're both very attractive."

"Granted. But voyeurism isn't his style," Karissa said as she threw his jeans at him. "So get dressed."

"Come on," Reece yelled from outside. "Open the door!"

Nick sat up with his eyes still closed and banged his head on the coffee table. "Shit!"

Karissa snickered at him. "That ought to wake you up." Then to the door, she yelled, "Hold on a minute, Cahill."

"Hurry up!" he yelled back.

"You know," she said to Nick as she finished dressing, "_he's_ the one who has been blowing _us_ off for months and now he wants us to hurry?"

"Hm, he seems a little stressed," her boyfriend commented as the doorbell rang several times in succession.

"You think?" Karissa replied sarcastically. She took her time in checking out her reflection on a picture frame to make sure that her hair wasn't too disheveled.

Already dressed, Nick watched her intentionally languid movements and shook his head. "You're cruel."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Sit down before your leg gives out again," she advised with a wink. As he sat on the edge of the sofa, she wrenched the front door open. "This had better be good—"

Reece stood on the steps, pale and shaking. There were dark circles under his eyes and his cheekbones protruded sharply, leaving deep hollows underneath. In spite of his shivering, Karissa could see beads of sweat along his brow, as if he had a terrible fever. On the whole, he looked like he'd just stumbled half-dead out of some dank, medieval dungeon.

"What happened to you?" she gasped as she reached for his arm and tugged him inside. "Are you all right?"

She started to close the door behind him, but Cahill thrust his hand out and held it open. "Lindsay, it's okay," he said softly to someone outside. "You can come in."

A young girl with a terrible haircut and an over-sized coat appeared in the doorway and paused at the threshold. From her size, Karissa guessed that the girl was ten or eleven, but there was something in her eyes that made her seem older. The girl looked up at her warily, and then looked at Reece. "It's safe?"

Reece nodded. "These are friends of mine. They're going to help us."

The girl didn't seem convinced. She stayed rooted to the steps.

Cahill gave Karissa a pleading glance, which she returned with a look of her own, one that said that he'd better be ready for some serious explaining once the girl was inside. Then she crouched down in front of the girl, so that they were at eye-level. "My name's Karissa," she said in her brightest, most kid-friendly voice. "What's yours?"

"Lindsay," the girl replied with a shy smile.

"It's nice to meet you." She rubbed her own arms briskly. "It's really cold out there. Why don't you come in?"

The girl glanced at Reece again and waited for his nod before she stepped inside. As Karissa shut the door behind her, she frowned to herself. She'd seen Cahill around kids before, and he'd always been pretty good with them, but she couldn't remember one being this attached to him. It was too weird.

"Can I take your coat?" Karissa asked the girl.

Lindsay took the over-sized coat off and handed it to her. "It's Reece's."

"I figured. I'll give it back to him," she promised.

Once she'd hung the coat in the closet, Karissa discretely scrutinized Lindsay's outfit. Most people didn't appreciate how much information you could get about a person by looking at their clothes. This girl, for instance, was wearing jeans and a wool sweater over a turtleneck shirt, all of which were definitely from Gap Kids—meaning that they were nice, and a little expensive. So Lindsay most likely came from an upper middle-class family. The colors she wore were dark and demure, especially compared to some of the clothes that girls her age wore these days, which hinted at fairly conservative parents. The only anomaly in the assessment was the girl's punk haircut.

Nick got up from the couch and limped over to Lindsay. Holding out his hand, he introduced himself.

The girl shook his hand uneasily, her gaze slipping down from his face as if she were intimidated. Then she furrowed her brow. "What happened to your leg?"

"Car accident," Reece interjected with a significant look at Nick, and then at Karissa. They both got the message loud and clear: this little girl did not know about the Night World.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lindsay said.

Nick smiled kindly. "It's okay. It'll be fine soon."

An awkward silence fell as the four of them stood in the living room, assessing one another.

Karissa couldn't take her eyes off of Reece. There was a strange stiffness in his face and in the way he held himself, leaning his hip against the side of the couch. He was in pain, she realized—a lot of it—and he was trying to hide it. He had to know that Nick and Karissa, knowing him as well as they did, would see through the mask, so she guessed that it was for Lindsay's sake. His eyes hadn't left the girl since they'd arrived and there was something terribly protective in his gaze that reminded Karissa of the way he sometimes looked at Lex.

But who was this young, human girl who was nervously fingering a silver cross that dangled from a chain around her neck? How had Cahill found her? If she was a part of a Daybreak assignment, then why didn't she know anything about Circle Daybreak? Why hadn't Cahill told her yet? And did she have anything to do with his recent transformation into Bizzaro-Reece?

Karissa wanted explanations, but she had the feeling that Reece wasn't going to tell them anything as long as Lindsay was around, especially since he didn't want the girl to know about the Night World. So as much as she wanted to stick around and pry the truth out of him, she decided to leave that to Nick.

Casually, she turned to Lindsay and asked, "Are you hungry?"

The girl smiled a little and nodded.

"Why don't you come with me into the kitchen and I'll fix you something?"

Again, Lindsay glanced at Reece, waiting for his approval.

"Go ahead," he said. "I'm just going to talk to Nick for a minute."

"Okay," she replied.

"The kitchen is right that way," Karissa said, pointing to the doorway down the hall. Once Lindsay's back was turned, she gave Nick a pointed look and he nodded in understanding. They were not going to let Cahill leave here without giving them some answers.

* * *

As soon as Karissa had taken Lindsay into the kitchen, Reece collapsed on the couch, wiping the sweat from his brow. His entire body was zinging with pain from the fight with Zarek and from the time-altering spell, and the effort it had taken to hide it from Lindsay during the ride to Montreal had been incredibly strenuous. So even though he didn't like letting the girl out of his sight, at that moment it was a relief.

"What's going on, Cahill?" Nick asked him. "You look like hell."

Reece lifted his head to find the other witch standing over him, and it suddenly occurred to him that the last time he'd seen Nick was right after the witch had been attacked. Nick had been lying unconscious in the Daybreak hospital, still hovering somewhere between life and death. Now he was already well again—or at least he was very close to it. Reece could hardly believe that so much time had passed, and guilt twisted inside of his stomach. He should have been here to help Nick heal. Instead, he'd single-mindedly pursued Zarek, not even bothering to care about how badly he was letting his team down.

"Trust me, I feel like hell," he assured his friend. "Look, I know you're still recovering and I have no right to ask, but I'm totally burned. Can you spare any Power? I'll take whatever you can afford to give me."

"Fine. But after that, we talk."

Reece nodded. It was what he had expected. Really, it was what he'd come here for. He'd screwed things up so badly on his own and now had to do whatever it took to get some help.

Nick placed his hands on top of Reece's head. As the cool energy flowed into him, Reece nearly sobbed with relief. The Power took the edge off his pain and it filled the burning void inside of him. It felt like he'd been dying in a dry, scorching desert and a rainstorm had suddenly broken overhead, suffusing him with life.

All too soon, Nick released him. "You weren't kidding. You really are burned. What did you do to yourself?"

"Got into a fight," Reece replied dazedly, rubbing his face roughly. "Got slammed into the floor. Got my throat crushed. Threw some fireballs. Stopped time. Broke the world record for a thousand meter dash. Drove a few hundred miles. And here I am." He paused. "Oh yeah, and I haven't slept in two, maybe three days."

"Stopped time? What do you mean, you stopped time?"

Trust Nick to focus on the one detail he wanted to gloss over.

"All right, look," Reece said, "long story short: Alexandra isn't lamia. She's a made vampire and the bastard that did it tortured her for almost thirty years before leaving her to die while he moved on to another girl. She survived, met me, and I've been hunting him since I came back from D.C. with her. I tracked him down in Vermont and when I found him, he was about to take Lindsay. I got her out of there, but he found out that Lex is still alive. Now he's going to go after her.

"He's one of the most powerful telepaths that I've ever come across. No mental shield can block him and he might be able to find Lex across long distances. I don't know, but I'm not going to take any chances. So I need you to come back to the apartment with me and do a cloaking spell on her. I'd do it myself, but it'll take too much time before I have enough Power."

Nick just stared at him. "That's why you've been blowing off the team?"

"Yes."

"For revenge?"

Reece sighed. "Yes."

"What is the matter with you, Cahill?" Nick exploded. "You've neglected all of your duties for some personal vendetta? That goes against everything Daybreak stands for. Everything _you_ stand for."

"You don't understand," Reece said in a thick voice. "You don't have a soulmate. You don't know..." He struggled to swallow the painful lump that had formed in the back of his throat. "Every time I touch her, I see what he did. Things you can't even imagine, Nick. For _thirty years_. I couldn't live with it. And I couldn't live knowing that he was out there, doing to another girl what he did to Lex. I just couldn't..."

Nick was quiet for a long moment. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because Lex didn't want anyone to know about her past. She didn't even want me to know, and to be honest, sometimes I wish that I didn't. As it happens, neither of us have a choice in the matter. The only thing we can choose is who else knows."

"And you're the only one?"

Reece hesitated. There was one other person who knew about Lex's maker—someone whom he hated almost as much as Zarek. In order to explain the situation with Aiden St. Helen, however, he would have to tell Nick about Genevieve Harman, and that meant telling him that Lex was a Wild Power. And if Nick knew, then Karissa would know, and then the rest of his team would know.

The thought triggered an explosion of fear in his mind. It wasn't that he didn't trust his team. It was just that with each new person who found out about Lex, the threat to her life incrementally increased. Too many people had known that Genevieve Harman was a Wild Power, and it had gotten her killed.

But hell, Reece had already spilled most of Alexandra's secrets. He might as well get this last one—the biggest one—out of the way because he wasn't sure that he could get through this mess with Zarek without his team finding out anyway.

"Look," he started. "About Lex—"

Karissa chose that moment to come back down the hall, cutting Reece off. "Cahill," she said, "you're being paged."

He exhaled an anxious breath and followed Karissa into the kitchen. Lindsay was sitting at the table in front of a rather large frozen pizza. Reece crouched down next to her. "What is it?" he asked.

"You haven't eaten either," she said. "We should share this."

Reece's heart contracted in his chest. This girl was so thoughtful, so caring. In some ways, she reminded him a little of the person he used to be, before he'd started hunting Zarek. And just like Nick, she made him realize just how far gone he was.

"Thanks," he replied. "But why don't you start without me? I need to run a quick errand with Nick."

Lindsay's eyes widened. "Don't leave me here alone. You said that you would protect me."

"You won't be alone," Reece assured her. "Karissa will stay with you. And trust me, she can kick some serious butt. She can even beat me sometimes."

The girl looked at him doubtfully. "Really?"

"Yup," Karissa replied proudly from behind him. "Cahill's a wuss."

Reece rolled his eyes at her as he stood back up. "I believe that 'sometimes' was the operative word." Then he looked down at Lindsay. "You'll be safe. And I'll be back soon, I swear."

"Let me get your coat," Karissa offered as Reece and Nick left the kitchen. While she was opening the closet door, she asked quietly enough so Lindsay couldn't hear, "Where are you guys going?"

"I need to get Lex," Reece replied as he pulled his coat on. "I just hope that she's home. I tried calling her a few times on the way, but she wasn't answering her phone. Have you guys talked to her at all?"

When he turned back towards Karissa, she was biting her lip nervously, her eyes locked on Nick. They weren't soulmates and neither of them were telepaths, but somehow they had perfected the art of silent communication. They could have an entire conversation with one look.

Reece frowned, anxiety starting to jangle inside of him. "What is it?" he asked. "What's going on?"

Karissa opened her mouth to reply, but Nick cut her off. "It's Lex. She left."

"She left." Reece repeated flatly, his brain refusing to understand the words.

"She left you, Cahill. She's gone."

* * *

Alexandra lay on her side. Aiden was lying behind her, his fingers stroking up and down her arm, making the soulmate link crackle like static through her body. Even though his touch was light, the friction of his skin brushing against hers again and again almost hurt. At least he wasn't delving into her mind now, though it might not be for lack of trying. Lex felt like a layer of ice encasing her, hiding the thoughts churning in her head.

_Slut._

The word had been plaguing her since she rolled off of Aiden, shying away from him at the edge of the bed. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since she'd left Reece, and she'd already slept with someone else. And not just anyone—she'd chosen a vampire whom he despised.

Lex had mentioned Aiden's name a few times in passing not long after she'd gone to Montreal with Reece, and even though the witch tried to hide it, she'd seen hatred burning behind his eyes. He would never forgive Aiden for trying to kill Genevieve, or for attacking Lex in the compound.

The Reece she'd met in D.C. hadn't known how to hate. It hadn't been part of the basic make-up of his personality. But after a few days with her, well, he'd been a quick learner. If he ever found out about what she'd done with Aiden, she was sure that he would hate her too.

What did it matter? She was never going to see him again. Was she supposed to spend the rest of her life alone? Aiden's soulmate had died, mostly because of things that he'd done, and yet he was able to lie with Lex now, seemingly guilt-free.

But that was Aiden St. Helen for fuck's sake. Did she really want to share the morals of a man who had tried to kill his soulmate?

The friction of his fingers on her arm was really hurting her now. Lex jerked away from Aiden and turning onto her stomach, keeping her face turned towards the window.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked, and the caress of his voice was more irritating than his touch.

"No," she replied. It was an obvious lie, one that she didn't even bother trying to disguise with a breezy tone. She didn't care if Aiden believed her. She only hoped that he would take her brusqueness as a hint and leave her alone.

Aiden chuckled softly. "If you don't want to talk about it, just say so."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, then," he said. The smile she heard in his voice confused her. Reece would never let her get away with that. He would push her, hammering away at the ice encasing her until it cracked and he extorted the truth from her. Or, at least the Old Reece would have. The witch she'd been living with for the past few months wouldn't have slept with her in the first place. He would still be locked away in his office, ignoring her pleas for him to come to bed.

But the vampire lying next to her wasn't Reece. It was Aiden St. Helen, and he was a private person. He didn't like being pushed any more than she did.

The outer layers of her ice melted as Alexandra rolled over to face him. It was dark in the motel room, but the moonlight shining through the window was bright enough for her to make out his silvery eyes and the lines of his mouth. "You really don't mind?"

"I'd rather you be honest than try to spare my feelings," he replied evenly. "If there's anything I've learned over the last two years, it's that lying is a waste of time."

His words moved her. For months now she'd been enduring Reece's lies, and it felt nice to be with someone who wanted honesty. More than that, he wasn't going to trap her with his questions like Reece used to, forcing her to either confess or to lie. Aiden was offering her an out that she hadn't been allowed to take with her soulmate. She could be honest and free at the same time.

Aiden noticed the strange smile playing on her lips. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that what you said is…refreshing."

The vampire snorted. "I thought that witch of yours was honesty incarnate."

Lex's temper flared in spite of herself. How dare Aiden judge Reece? Recklessly, she lashed out, using the only weapon that she knew would hurt him. "No, that would be _your_ witch, if she weren't dead."

Aiden started to recoil from her, but after a moment he recovered. Leaning forward menacingly, he forced her onto her back and he placed his hands on either side of her head. His weight wasn't on top of her, but he was close enough for her to feel the heat of his body, his anger.

"I see I struck a nerve," he purred. "It didn't end well with him, I take it. Tell me, what did that sanctimonious son of a bitch do? Mess around behind your back? Leave you for someone less…tainted? Sell you out to the highest bidder? I wouldn't have thought he had it in him, but maybe he's not so much better than me after all."

Lex wet her lips, battling the urge to snap back at him. He may have started this, but it was up to her to end it. If she didn't find a way to diffuse the fury escalating between them, it would spiral out of control. Hellraiser wasn't the kind of person who ever backed down and if he insulted her or her soulmate one more time, she wouldn't be able to back down either. Then they would shred each other until one of them wound up dead.

"I never said he was, Aiden," she said softly. The vampire drew back slightly and she knew that she'd surprised him. "Besides, does it ever end well?"

Some of the heat in his eyes dissipated. "Hell if I know," he replied as he pulled away and lay back down.

Relieved, Alexandra took a silent, shaky breath.

After a long moment, Aiden said, thoughtfully, "Eve was with someone when she came to D.C. Some Daybreaker she'd met through her family's circle. When she decided to move to Washington, he applied for a transfer so that he could go with her. He flew in a few days after she got there, but by that time she was already in love with me." He sneered at that, but Lex thought that he was only doing it out of habit. "The guy rearranged his entire life for her only to be dumped as soon as he arrived. He should have been livid, should have hated her, but he was perfectly understanding. They actually stayed good friends. I thought he was pathetic, but I suppose that I'm no longer in any position to judge. So anyway, maybe for people like him and Eve, it can end well."

Lex turned onto her side to face him again. "And for people like us?"

"I don't know about you," he said, his teeth glinting in the darkness, "but I burn my bridges."

"Are you going to burn me, Aiden?" she asked him in a low voice.

"I think I should be more worried about you burning me, with that blue fire of yours."

She laughed shortly, but she knew that she could never use that fire. Not until the war came. If she ever did, then Circle Daybreak or the Night World would probably sense it, and they would track her down. Then she would either be dragged off to some fortress for protection—like Genevieve had—or be killed on sight. Neither option was particularly appealing to her.

"How is it going with that?" Aiden asked. "Are you learning to control it?"

Suspicion whispered through her. She'd heard that sort of question from Aiden before, inside Genevieve Harman's mind. Gen hadn't known it at the time, but he'd asked because he was gathering information to use against her.

_Betrayal, hands around her throat..._

Lex forced herself to calm down, to push away the memories that were not her own. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason," he replied smoothly. "Why do you want to know why I want to know?"

"No reason." But her voice didn't sound nearly as off-handed as she'd hoped it would.

His gray eyes narrowed, focusing on her. Through her. "You think I came here to kill you?"

"No," Lex replied. "But you're not exactly renowned for your stability. One minute you want me, the next you want me dead—it's within the realm of possibilities."

"And yet you're brazenly provoking me," he pointed out. "Would you do that if you thought I was a danger to you?" The question was clearly rhetorical. Aiden had seen the way she'd cowered before Angie Catellini, like a white mouse before a lioness. Even when they'd been arguing heatedly a few minutes ago, Lex hadn't truly been afraid of him; she had been more afraid of herself.

"I'm not asking for your trust, Lex," he continued. "I don't need it and I'm not sure that I even want it. I'm just asking you to use your head. If I wanted you dead, you already would be."

"So what do you want?" she found the courage to ask.

The vampire smiled at her. "Right now, as you said, I want you."

Gently, he swept his fingers into her hair, pulling her curls taut as he combed through them. Lex shivered, realizing that he knew very well she had a weakness for that gesture. "You're really not a nice person."

"No," Aiden admitted. "But it doesn't seem like 'nice' worked out too well for you." He moved closer to her, until his lips grazed her collarbone.

"You either," she murmured, as she slid her hand down his bare back. His skin was cool and smooth against her fingertips.

"No," he said again. "So why don't we both forget about 'nice' for a while and concentrate on this." Then he leaned in and kissed her, not trying to be sweet or careful with her this time.

Alexandra let him devour her mouth as he drew her closer, until she was lying on top of him. And even as her pulse started to race and her blood burned hot in her veins, something inside of her relaxed.

_Forget, she thought. Forget…_

_

* * *

_

I am terribly sorry for how egregiously late this part is. I started a new job and am in the middle of packing for a move. Then the holidays.. Craziness all around. But to make it up to you, this chapter was a fair bit longer than normal. I didn't want to end it without checking in with Lex and Aiden. Still, I hope I haven't lost too many of you guys! Oh yeah.. and I edited this in a hurry, so let me know if I have any typos, please.

_Thanks to the wonderful.._

_enchantednight84: I'm glad you liked that Reece protected Lindsay instead of going after Zarek anyways. He's always going to be a duty-bound, night-in-shining-armor kind of guy.. even when he's not quite himself._

_Rachel: I did change Lex's pic on my homepage. Thanks for the suggestion. :)_

_Darklight Shadow: Oh yeah, I like my witches badass. Though I have to say that the spell Reece cast was a bit over the top, even for him. It's going to come back and bite him in the ass. _

_incarnated-soul: It's definitely good that you hate Zarek, because he's a sick, sick man. I would be worried about you otherwise. Reece definitely wasted an opportunity. Really, he knows better than to screw things up the way he did. But he's too emotionally involved in this mission for him to think and plan clearly. Lindsay is definitely into her faith. She's sort of like me when I was her age.. though I'm probably the exact opposite of that now. I hope that it makes her a more realistic character. She does sort of see things in black-and-white right now, because of her faith and because she's only ten, but she's starting to see things a little differently now._

_CalliopeMused: Okay, this isn't out on a Thursday, but I hope it's still appreciated. It's good to hear that my action sequences are good.. they're difficult for me to write. I swear, I have to sit down and watch an episode of _24_ just so I can get some help visualizing some of it._


	10. Pleasure and Pain

_She left you, Cahill. She's gone._

As the words reverberated through him, the room seemed to shift and for a moment, Reece thought that he was going to faint. Part of him wished that he would, because maybe when he woke up, this would all be a dream. He started to close his eyes, but it only made the dizziness worse.

Gone.

She's gone.

How could this have happened? Why?

Those were the questions that ran through his head, but what came out of his mouth in scarcely a whisper was, "When?"

"She might still be here," Karissa said in a rush. "I gave her a new ID and all of her cash just two days ago and she didn't say when she was leaving. I'm so, so sorry—"

Reece didn't hear the rest of Karissa's apology because he was already running for the door. Throwing it open, he burst out into the frigid air and sprinted toward his car. The engine was still warm from his drive up from Vermont, so as soon as he started it, he put the car in reverse and backed out of his parking space.

The passenger door opened just as he was switching gears and Nick slid into the seat. Reece didn't know how the witch had caught up with him with a bad leg, but he didn't bother asking as he pulled out onto the street.

The roads were icy as he raced through the city, running lights and weaving through traffic. The gaslight was on, but Reece knew from experience that he could go another thirty miles before the car died. Slamming on the gas pedal, he swerved into the left lane to take the next turn, cutting off a blue Toyota Corolla. The driver gave him the finger as he blared his horn, but Reece didn't give a damn. Nothing mattered now except getting back to his apartment, where his soulmate might still be.

_Please be there_, he thought as he steered around a white Mini Cooper who was going only thirty kilometers per hour. He was only five minutes away now—three, if he really pushed it—but it still seemed too long. What if she was walking out the door right now? He would just miss her. Please…

She wouldn't really go, would she? Alexandra was a Wild Power and she knew that she couldn't go off on her own. He had taught her a few self-defense moves and he'd helped her gain some measure of control over the blue fire, but she still needed him to protect her. To leave him now, as the war was drawing closer with each passing day, would be insane.

Then he remembered Lex's expression just a few days ago when he'd told her that he had to go on another business trip. He hadn't given her tight-lipped smile or chilled blue eyes a second thought on his way out the door, but now he realized that she'd looked resigned. She had been thinking about leaving him for a while and his latest trip was the last straw for her. No wonder she'd felt so far away when he was in Vermont.

Why hadn't she just said something? He thought that they'd gotten better at communicating since he brought her up from D.C. They were certainly leagues ahead of where they'd been when he met her—back when it had taken him over thirty minutes just to wring her name out of her. She let him touch her now. As long as he didn't use anything he saw against her, she could tolerate his presence in her mind. A few times she'd even invited him inside. Lex trusted him. So why hadn't she told him that she was unhappy? Why just walk out on him without a word?

Reece angrily pressed the accelerator to the floor.

"You're not going to be much good to your soulmate as road kill," Nick commented from the passenger seat. "Want to slow down a little?"

"No," he snapped.

"Fine. But if I don't make it out of here alive, could you tell Karissa that I want my body to be cremated and I want my ashes spread under a fir tree in La Mauricie Park?"

Reece wanted to glare at his friend, but at the speed he was driving, he couldn't afford to take his eyes off the road. "I didn't ask you to come along."

"No," Nick agreed. "But if I hadn't come, then you'd probably go off on your own again and disappear for another few weeks without explanation."

He tipped his head back on the headrest tiredly. "Don't start on me now. I really don't need it. I learned my lesson, okay? Doesn't coming to you and Karissa tonight prove that?"

"Maybe. But I still don't understand why you did it in the first place. The Reece Cahill that I know would never shirk responsibilities for something as petty as revenge."

This time Reece couldn't resist throwing Nick an angry glance. "Petty? Zarek tortured my soulmate, and if it weren't for me, he would be doing the same thing to Lindsay right now. I saved her life. How is that petty?"

"Because you did it for your own reasons. And how many people's lives did you sacrifice in the meantime by not being here, where you were needed?"

"You guys did fine without me."

"Fine?" Nick exploded. "The night I was attacked, I was covering your shift, Cahill, or have you forgotten? I'd already worked a double when you asked me to cover for you while you went out of town on 'Daybreak business' again. That vampire probably wouldn't have gotten the jump on me if I hadn't been so tired from doing _your_ work."

Reece's stomach turned. He _had_ forgotten that Nick was working his shift that night. It hadn't even occurred to him when he heard that Nick was in the hospital. "Do you want an apology?" he asked throatily, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

"No, I want you to listen," Nick replied gravely. "After I was cut down and Karissa was out of commission to take care of me, there was too much ground for Alyssa, Jase, and Sorrentino to cover on their own. People died because of that, do you understand? People died because of the choices you made."

Nick was right and there was no way that Reece could deny it. He knew that he'd let his team down, but he'd never thought about the people that he should have been protecting while he'd been hunting Zarek. And that realization disturbed him deeply. Once upon a time, he'd been all about the mission—saving lives without losing compassion—but he'd given up on all of that. Goddess, when had this happened?

Reece tried to shake off the guilt. It was too much for him to take right now and he had to concentrate on Alexandra. There was no way for him to change the past, but he could at least make sure that he hadn't destroyed everything for nothing. "I know that I fucked things up," he said to Nick. "Can we please drop it now?"

The witch chose to ignore the plea. "Fucked things up? That's putting it mildly. And it's not just other people, Cahill; you fucked yourself over as well. What were you thinking, doing an illegal spell?"

"Here it comes," Reece groaned, wishing that he hadn't mentioned the time altering spell to Nick. He only told him because he was sick of lying to everyone, but he should have known that his teammate wouldn't let something like this go. The witch always did everything by the book. There was no such thing as mitigating circumstances for Nick. In his mind, the line between right and wrong was written in stone and there was no justification for crossing it.

"Did you think I was going to let you off the hook? Screwing around with time and space is a serious offense, Cahill."

Reece's head was throbbing and he wished that he could take his hands from the wheel to massage his temples. "I know."

"You can't unleash that kind of power without someone noticing. Daybreak will launch an investigation. And so will the Night World Witch Council."

"I know."

"At the very least, you'll lose your job. There's a good chance that you'll go to a Daybreak prison. And if the Night World finds you first, they'll probably execute you."

"I know!" Reece snapped.

"Then why the hell did you do it?" Nick asked in exasperation.

He raked his fingers through his hair, and then used both hands to jerk the steering wheel to the right to take the next turn. "Zarek was right behind me. I needed to buy some time to get Lindsay out of there."

"That's it? That's your explanation?"

"I needed to buy some time for myself, too, all right? Zarek knew that Lex was still alive and I had to stay alive so that I could warn her. I'm a selfish bastard who has fucked up everything and everyone and I damn well know it. Is that what you want to hear?"

"I want you to be honest with me. That's never been a problem before, not until you went to D.C. last year."

Again, Nick was right. The D.C. mission had changed everything. Reece had once told Lex that he didn't regret taking that job, but more and more often, he wondered how true that was.

He pulled into a parking spot in front of his apartment building. As he pushed the car door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk, his gaze automatically lifted to the third floor, the second window from the left. When Lex was home at night, he usually saw the lights from the living room shining through that window. Now there was only darkness.

Dread choked him.

Nick came around to his side of the car and gave Reece a small push toward the building's main entrance. "Come on, Speed Racer. You're the one that wanted to risk certain death to get here in five minutes flat."

"She's not home," he said dazedly. "She's already gone."

His friend gave him a sympathetic look—one that Reece wouldn't have expected after the lecture Nick had given him in the car. "Maybe she left a note."

She hadn't.

After he managed to unlock his front door, Reece turned on every light in the apartment. He checked the refrigerator, the kitchen counters, the coffee table, the bathroom mirror, his desk, his computer, and the bedroom...

No note.

No explanation.

Nothing.

Lex had left him and she didn't want him to go after her. He had lost his soulmate, his Wild Power, the love of his life...

Reece sat down on the edge of the bed and covered his face with his hands. Tears burned behind his closed eyelids.

"I'm sorry, man," Nick said from the bedroom doorway.

He nodded in response without lifting his head. "I have to find her before Zarek does."

"Why don't we just go after him?"

"He's a chameleon, Nick. It took me eighteen months to find him. It'll be a hell of a lot easier to track down Lex. She's inexperienced at this."

"Okay. Then let's go back to my place. Karissa made Lex's new ID, so we'll know what name she's using."

"Karissa helped her?" Reece asked sharply. He vaguely remembered that the human girl had been apologizing for something as he ran out the door, but he'd been in too much of a rush to really listen.

"Don't be mad at her, Cahill. I reprimanded her enough for the both of us. And if Lex really wanted to leave, she would have obtained an alias one way or another. At least this way we know the name. We have a rough idea of when she left. And maybe she gave Karissa a clue as to where she might be heading."

With another nod, Reece forced himself to stand up and follow Nick out of the apartment. He couldn't despair now, not when his soulmate needed him most.

* * *

Her mind was a place of barbed wires and broken glass. Aiden allowed himself to steal only brief glimpses into it, lifting and lowering the veil between them so quickly that Lex didn't seem to notice, and after each glance, he returned with blood dripping from his eyes. Or maybe it was tears. Either way, it fascinated him because even though her mind was a harsh, craggy wasteland, she remained soft and pliant in his arms. He wondered if she even felt the splinters inside her head, or if she kept them locked away from her consciousness.

He'd been like that once. There had been a time when he was able to compartmentalize his emotions so well that he hadn't known they existed. Any of them. Of course, Alexandra was a little different; Aiden had the feeling that she had to lock away some emotions in order to feel others.

"What are you looking at?" She smiled down at him as he pushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Her small, delicate body was draped over him as she propped herself up on her forearms, which rested on either side of his head. It was easier for her if she was lying on top of him or to his side, he'd learned. It kept her in the present. The second his weight was on her, she withdrew into herself, her sapphire eyes glazing over like a door slamming shut.

"You," Aiden replied, brushing the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone. Her skin was unbelievably soft and he thought that he would be content to simply touch her for the rest of eternity. The link between them vibrated, and he tried not to tug on it too hard. He didn't want to disrupt whatever balance she had struck between her fear and her desire. Better to just coil the link around his fingers for now, knowing that it was there for the taking whenever he needed it.

"Oh yeah? See anything you like?" Alexandra asked in a husky voice that was paired with a teasing smile. It turned him on—that was a given—but Aiden was far more intrigued by the dichotomy between her tone and the sudden hollowness he sensed inside of her. The razor-sharp edges of her mind disappeared and Lex's voice echoed in the resultant emptiness.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered earnestly, tracing his thumb over her pouty lips. It was more than her appearance, which still stole his breath from time to time; there was beauty in the mystery of her—the contradictions and the complications. Eve had been such a simple soul, but Alexandra was an intricate web of strength overlying weakness, overlying strength. Sadness entangled with anger. Passion intertwined with fear.

Lex's eyes sparkled brightly and her cheeks flushed as if she weren't used to receiving compliments. But didn't her Daybreak witch tell her how beautiful she was? What had that bastard done to her, anyways?

"I thought we agreed to forget about niceness for a while," she replied, trying too hard to sound playful.

"I didn't say that to be nice," Aiden assured her.

Her brows drew together in confusion. "Then why did you?"

"Because it's true. Because you should know it."

Alexandra cringed inwardly. Aiden could feel it, even though she remained still in his arms, and he knew that she was going to pull away. His instincts screamed at him to tighten his hold, but in the end, he forced himself to let her go. She sat up and drew her knees into her chest, leaving him to stare at the curve of her bare back.

"What is it?" he asked, perplexed.

She didn't answer, which baffled him even more. They understood each other in a way that Aiden had never believed possible. She knew that he would understand whatever was going through her mind.

"What are we doing?" she said softly.

He gazed up at the cracks in the ceiling. "Talking?" he offered helplessly.

"I have a soulmate. So do you. So what the hell are we doing here now?"

"Do you want me to go?" Aiden had asked her that question once already, but he still dreaded her response. Though, now that he thought about it, she hadn't actually answered the question last time. From her silence, it didn't seem like she was going to answer it now, either. "Lex?" he prompted.

She exhaled. "Maybe."

Aiden sat up and swept her hair back behind her shoulder so that he could see her profile. It was dark inside the motel room and suddenly the light shining into their window from the streetlamp wasn't nearly enough. Telepathically, he flicked on the overhead light.

She shied away from him, but Aiden cupped her cheek and turned her face to him. "Let me see you," he whispered. "Let me see your eyes."

Lex stared at him almost challengingly, but her blue eyes were shuttered, as he'd known they would be. Aiden made an impatient sound through his teeth. "Talk to me about this again when you're actually here."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're lying," he replied. "You're walled off. And it's not that I mind, exactly, but I'm not about to leave when whatever is bothering you has nothing to do with us."

"There is no 'us', Aiden."

"The hell there isn't. I've had you twice now, Lex, and we both know that I'm going to have you again."

Fury blazed in her eyes like blue fire and Aiden felt a perverse sense of satisfaction. Anger was certainly better than the emptiness it replaced. It meant that she was back in the moment with him instead of behind her walls. He would have to remember that trigger in the future.

"You're an arrogant bastard," she seethed.

"Yes. And I'd say it's damn lucky for you that I am, because I'm not letting you get rid of me with your lame excuses. I'm not like you're sweet, spineless soulmate."

"You don't know anything about him."

"I know that you're here with me instead of him. That's enough."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," Lex snapped with exasperation. "I don't want to lead you on. I don't want to make you promises that I can't keep. I left Reece so that I could finally be alone, where I won't ruin someone else. So we need to end this now, before it goes any further."

"Ruin someone else?" Aiden repeated incredulously. "That's what you're afraid of? Angel, I'm already ruined. You of all people should know that."

"And you of all people should know that I'm not beautiful," she retorted. "You've seen the things I've done—"

"Likewise."

"—and the things that have been done to me. Don't you care?"

"Why should I care?"

Lex opened her mouth, but no words came out. "Because—" she finally sputtered. "Because—"

Realization dawned on him. "Because _he_ cares," Aiden finished for her. "Your Daybreak witch. Am I right?"

She looked away from him. "Yes. No. I don't know," she said wearily. "He didn't use to, but he's been...different."

Interesting. The Daybreak witch finally had a flaw that Aiden could honestly say he didn't share.

"You're hardly a saint," he said to her, "but that's not what I want. The way you think, the way you move, the things you feel...you are beautiful, Lex."

She pressed her lips together and shook her head slightly. "I don't want to talk about this."

Aiden smiled wryly to himself. He'd given her permission to use that diversion earlier, but he had the feeling that she was going to use it more often than he'd bargained for. Well, it didn't really matter. He had told her that he didn't want her trust and he meant it. So if she didn't want to tell him something, who was he to push her?

"Look, I haven't asked you to make any promises," he said softly. "And I never will. I don't believe in them. I made Eve too many promises that I had no intention of keeping and they still haunt me. I won't repeat that mistake."

"No trust, no promises," she murmured. "What kind of relationship do you expect us to have?"

"A painless one."

Lex laughed humorlessly. "I played this game with someone before, and I lost."

He reached out to run his fingers through her hair, letting his nails graze her scalp. He knew that this gesture was another trigger of hers—one that stole the bones from her body. She shivered without making a sound, the satin skin of her neck and shoulder breaking into goose bumps.

"This isn't a game," he replied once he felt some of the tension inside of her ease. "It's the only way I can keep you from getting hurt."

"Me?" she murmured, tipping her head back slightly into his nails. Her curls slipped between his fingers like water.

"Yes, you. I destroy everything I touch, Lex. If I hadn't heard you scream this morning, I wouldn't have come in here. I was about to drive away."

"How did you find me, anyway?"

Aiden shrugged. "I was driving through the area and I felt that you were nearby. I figured that if the soulmate link wanted me to find you, I'd better listen." He slid his hand under her mass of hair to caress the nape of her neck. "How did you wind up here?"

"Bus out of Montreal crashed," she sighed, closing her eyes.

"Where were you headed?"

"I don't know. South. I couldn't take the cold any more."

Something in her voice got to him. Longing, maybe. Sadness. Whatever it was, he understood it only too well. He'd been cold for so long and this amazing girl made him burn. He knew at that moment that he would do anything for her.

Impulsively, Aiden grasped her shoulders and turned her towards him. "Then let's get the hell out of here."

Lex's eyes widened. "What? Right now?"

"Yes," he replied as excitement bubbled up inside of him, unfamiliar and intoxicating. "My car is right outside. We could be on a plane to Hawaii in a few hours. Salty air, sandy beaches..."

She smiled at him ruefully. "Aiden, that sounds nice, but—"

"Do you really want to spend another night in this sleezy place?" he pressed, unwilling to let her turn him down.

"No, it's not that."

"Then what?"

Lex lowered her eyes and flushed. "I hate planes. I can't fly."

Relief flooded him. She wasn't saying no after all. Taking her hands in his, Aiden got off the bed and pulled her to her feet. "Okay, forget Hawaii," he said. "We'll drive to Florida. Key West. As far south as we can get."

"You really want to come with me?"

"Why not? Look, I'm not proposing here, Lex. But we get along, we make each other laugh, we have incredible sex...why not keep each other company for a while longer? No strings attached."

"Okay," she replied slowly as a brilliant smile captured her lips. "Let's do it."

Aiden kissed her quickly. Then he bent down to find the clothes that Lex had ripped off of him earlier. He dressed in record time and then rushed around the room to grab all of her clothes, which were still hanging from the doors and spread across the furniture. By the time he was stuffing them into her duffel bag, Lex was fully dressed and pulling on her shoes. She couldn't move fast enough for him and Aiden hauled her up over his shoulder before she could finish tying her laces. Lex giggled as he walked out of the room, leaving the broken door against the wall.

Once they were on the sidewalk, he set her back down and dug through his pocket for the car keys. "The manager isn't going to be pleased when he sees the damage we did to the room."

Lex sneered. "Well, the bastard behind the desk over-charged me for the room in the first place, so I think we're covered regardless."

"Over-charged you by how much?" Aiden asked curiously.

"I don't know; I didn't count it. Three hundred, maybe?"

"Why?"

"Well, it seems that young girls who are drenched from head-to-toe really do it for the guy, so he wanted to be rid of me before he could give in to the temptations of the flesh. I had to give him all the cash in my pocket to get a key from him."

Rage ran like ice-water through his veins. His mind, which had been buzzing with excitement only a moment ago, suddenly froze. The euphoria was gone as if it had never come. "Is that right?"

Lex nodded. "At least he didn't try to sneak into my room in the middle of the night, telling me that I was asking for it," she said with deep-rooted bitterness that she tried to play off as her usual sarcasm.

"Why don't you let me return the room key," Aiden offered smoothly. "You can start the car. Get the heat going."

She lifted her chin up like a fighter, letting her eyes meet his for a long moment. Understanding passed between them and as she wordlessly handed him the room key, she squeezed his hand.

"I'll be right back," he promised, giving the key to his car to her. He waited until she was inside and the engine was running before he turned toward the motel's office.

The bell over the door jangled as he entered, startling the small, weaselly man who was standing behind the reservation desk. Aiden approached him slowly, letting the man give him a once-over as he made his way across the room.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

He was nervous, Aiden could tell, but that wasn't unusual. Aiden had that effect on a lot of people. It had something to do with his height, his eyes, his predatory grace. Most people intuitively recognized him as a monster, but society forced them to ignore their instincts for the sake of politesse.

He leaned forward onto the desk, purposely invading the man's personal space. "Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the man who was working here early this morning? Maybe around five?"

The man swallowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed. "Uh, me, sir. I work the night shift."

"Ah. So do you by any chance remember seeing a girl come in—about five feet tall, with curly black hair?"

"Yes," the man said with sudden enthusiasm. "Is she in any trouble? I knew I shouldn't have given her a room."

Aiden smiled. "Huh. From what I heard, you didn't _give_ her a room at all. You charged her over three hundred dollars for it."

The man flushed a deep shade of red. "I most certainly did not," he said indignantly.

"Right." The vampire lunged forward and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt, dragging him up over the desk. As the man's feet dangled in the air, Aiden broadened his smile, letting his fangs show. "Now," he said icily, "care to revise your answer?"

"Okay!" the man shrieked, kicking his feet frantically. "I did! Please, just don't hurt me..."

Aiden gently lowered the man to the floor. "Oh, I won't hurt you. As long as you give me that money back."

Once the vampire released him, the man scurried over to the cash box, his hands shaking as he unlocked it and retrieved a wad of twenty-dollar bills. "Here," he said, slapping the money on the desk. "Take it. I swear, that's everything."

The vampire slipped the money into his pocket. "Thank you for your help," he said casually.

As the man started to back away, Aiden gripped his arm and wrenched him forward. Grabbing his hair, he yanked the man's head to the side. "And the next time you try to take advantage of a young girl, I want you to remember this." Then he sank his teeth into the man's throat, feeling the hot blood spill over this tongue.

Oh god...it had been almost nineteen months since he'd drunk from a human and he'd forgotten just how incredible it was. For a few long moments, Aiden simply lost himself in the rush, but as he felt the man's heartbeat slow, he held onto his last shred of self-control and forced himself to let go. The man fell to the floor—unconscious, but still alive.

Aiden left him there as he walked out into the parking lot, where Lex was waiting in the car. He slid into the driver's seat and handed her the roll of money.

"Thank you," she murmured.

He licked the last of the blood from his teeth. "My pleasure."

It wasn't until they were pulling out onto the street that Aiden realized that he hadn't heard any horrified gasp inside of his head during his attack. He hadn't felt an uncontrollable compulsion to help the man he'd left on the floor of the office. Eve's silent voice, which had plagued him since the day she'd died, was silent.

* * *

Zarek Kakopoios despised the twenty-first century. He loathed its World Wide Web and cellular phones and credit cards. He abhorred fax machines and electronic mail and Personal Digital Assistants and Global Positioning Systems. The digital age was crass and garish, lacking any semblance of romance or elegance. He had been alive for nearly five millennia and he had never witnessed as much chaos as he had seen in the last sixty years. Humans were exchanging information faster than the speed of thought and it still was not enough for them. Technology expired before most people even had the opportunity to master it. Their insatiable greed, coupled with their skill for innovation, was bringing the world to its knees. And yet they had no direction. They were rushing headlong into the future without any inkling of where they wanted to end up. At their frantic pace, it would be only a matter of time before they crashed and burned.

Because of his lifestyle, Zarek had been able to shun most of the human's technological revolution. He had no friends, no acquaintances, and therefore no use for any digital communication devices. He did not own a cell phone, he didn't have an e-mail address, and he'd never actually used a computer before. Zarek existed along side the human world, but he held himself apart from it with clinical distaste.

At times like this, he cursed himself for it. He had just discovered that his beautiful Alexandra was somehow still alive, and there was nothing he could do about it. Zarek knew her full name, but did not know how to begin searching for her. His enhanced telepathy allowed him to read humans and Night People alike, but only when they were in fairly close proximity. And while he was willing travel to the end of the world and back to find her, he wanted her _now_.

If only he had been able to glean more from that witch at the church than his first name—Reece—and the taste of Alexandra's rage through the legendary soulmate link …

Reece had been a remarkable witch, Zarek would give him that—certainly everything that he would have expected Alexandra's soulmate to be. The spell Reece had cast to cloak his mind had been devastatingly effective, and the one he'd used outside the church to stop time had been truly extraordinary. What impressed Zarek more than anything, though, was that Reece still had the strength to run after casting such grueling spells. It had been a very long time since Zarek had encountered a witch that powerful.

Oh, the things that he was going to do to that witch once he found him. Zarek had never had a male slave before, but there was a first time for everything and having both Alexandra and her soulmate would indeed be interesting.

Of course, Zarek did have to find them first, which was proving to be a difficult task, even for the humans. For several hours, he had watched the police work. They had been called to the scene where a few people had witnessed Reece steal Lindsay Rosen off the sidewalk, but they hadn't found any evidence. At the moment, they were posted inside and outside of Lindsay's home, waiting for a ransom demand that Zarek knew would never come. Still, the police understood modern technology and they had a far better chance of tracking down Reece than Zarek did.

So he waited, aimlessly walking the streets of the small town while he kept part of his mind trained on the humans in Lindsay's house. The rest of his mind remained open to the world as he searched in vain for a glimmer of Alexandra's presence somewhere nearby. He wasn't sure how much longer he could wait for the police to find a lead. Patience was a virtue that he normally possessed in abundance, but after all of the time he had invested in stalking Lindsay Rosen, he had already let the anticipation build to the point that it was excruciating.

As Zarek was heading back toward the church, his feet unconsciously bringing him back to the place where he had almost captured Lindsay, he finally felt something that made him stop in his tracks.

Night People.

An eagle shapeshifter and a female witch.

Zarek had been in this town for several weeks without sensing another Night Person close by and now there were two of them. Intrigued, he closed his eyes and let his mind seek them out. He smiled to himself when he found them to be standing outside of the very same Catholic church to which Zarek was heading. This was not a coincidence; they had to know something about Reece.

He ran the rest of the way there. He could have listened to their conversation telepathically, but Zarek wanted to see these Night People for himself.

The eagle shifter was rather gangly and from the looks of him, rather young. He was perfectly off-set by the middle-aged female witch who was the epitome of an Amazon woman. She was far older than the girls that normally interested Zarek, but even he could understand the allure of her hour-glass figure and her mane of shining brown hair. And the anger smoldering in her green eyes was truly breath-taking.

"Are you getting anything?" the shifter asked her.

"Panic," the Amazon witch replied. "Desperation. Rage." She took a step forward and gave the shifter a small nod. "This is the place the spell originated from, but I don't recognize the energy signature. This wasn't done by anyone on our Watch List."

"Great," the shifter said sarcastically. "I'm sure Daybreak will be glad to hear that. There are already too many witches practicing illegal spells and now we've got another one."

"It's a long-shot, I might be able to gather up some of the Power here and use it to trace the witch. Either way, we still need to collect as much information here as possible, so that we can compare the sig if this witch casts another spell of this magnitude."

"Well, with any luck, the witch burned him- or herself out with this one."

The witch looked crossly at the shifter. "Don't wish that upon anyone, Hal."

"Sorry," he grumbled. "It's just…with the war coming, this is getting out of hand. We can't catch them all."

"I know," the witch replied sympathetically. "But we have to try. So let's just get to work."

_Indeed_, Zarek thought as he watched them. So they were both members of some group called Circle Daybreak. He never would have expected a witch circle to allow shifters as members, but from the things he read in their minds, it seemed like times were changing. That didn't matter to him. He'd lived long enough to know that times were always changing. Wars were fought, battles were won, and it all meant nothing in the end because it was impossible to hold on to your victory. The only thing that truly mattered was experience. Pleasure and pain. And once these two Night People found Reece for him, Zarek was going to inflict a great deal of both on him, Alexandra, and Lindsay.

Soon, he would have them all.

_

* * *

_

Again, I apologize profusely for the wait. I had to finish up my original story on FP, and then there was Christmas. Bah. But, as before, this chapter is a little longer than usual to hopefully make up for the wait.

_Many thanks to.._

_**Whisperer:**_ _Wow, considering some of the high-quality work on this fanfic list (ie, Moreta and Kiana), I am very flattered you think this is good. :) _

_**Darklight Shadow:**__ All right, shweetums, I got this part out. Happy now:) And yes, Lindsay has a little crush on Reece. But hey, he's nice and gorgeous and powerful, so who wouldn't?_

_**CalliopeMused: **__Much thanks. Yeah, action sequences are hard. You totally have to be able to visualize what is actually going on._

_**incarnated-soul:**__ How many more chapters? It's hard to say right now because I'm still trying to get the pace right. So.. a bunch. :) Yeah, I've got a bunch of characters running around in this one, but I think I like it better this way. In _Fissure_, I only had four and I missed the packed cast I had going in _Haunted_. Um.. oh yeah, I knew it was a nasty place to leave Reece at the end of the last chapter, but there was no other reasonable place for a break. And I like being mean. And as for Lex and Aiden, yup, they're not wasting any time. I'm glad you picked up on the lack of real attachment because that's what I was going for. Anyways, you're too flattering, but keep it up. :)_

_**random anonymous person:**__ Leave your name next time so that I can properly thank you. :)_


	11. Nothing

Karissa was dying of curiosity. In the twenty-five minutes since Reece had run out of the apartment with Nick tailing close behind, she had already wandered over to the front window to check for their return about a thousand times. She was going back and forth between the kitchen and the living room window so often that she was beginning to feel like she was in a pinball machine. She just couldn't sit still; the endless questions were killing her.

Would Lex be with them when they came back? Or had she left by now? And why was Reece so desperate to get to her anyways? Sure, he had just found out that his soulmate left him, but he'd been far more agitated than something that simple—that mundane, really—could explain. What had Reece told Nick while Karissa had been in the kitchen, keeping little Lindsay occupied? And just what did Lindsay have to do with all of this anyways? Damn, what she wouldn't give for telepathy right now.

"Is Reece coming back soon?" Lindsay asked.

Karissa gave her a sympathetic look. If it were possible, the girl seemed even more worried about Cahill than she was. Lindsay had only eaten a few bites of her frozen pizza and every time Karissa came back from the living room window, the glimmer of pure, innocent hope in the girl's eyes was almost painful. Then Karissa would shake her head, extinguishing that hope until the next round.

"I don't know," she told Lindsay. "I hope so."

The girl nodded worriedly and stared down at the barely-touched pizza on her plate.

"Is it too cold now?" Karissa asked. "Do you want me to heat it up for you?"

Lindsay shook her head. "No, thank you."

Karissa smiled at the girl's unfailing manners. Ever since she had arrived, nearly every sentence Lindsay had spoken was tagged with "please" or "thank you" or "may I" or "excuse me". That kind of politeness was pretty rare these days. Karissa herself had grown up with five brothers and sisters, and her parents had been too busy working seventy hours a week just to put food on the table to be concerned about things like manners.

But even though Lindsay was relentlessly polite, she was also wary. Her eyes were never still. They darted around the room, constantly checking the exits, as if she were afraid that someone would jump out at her any time. She was too quiet as well. She didn't speak unless it was to ask about Reece, and her responses to Karissa's questions were short and vague. It made Karissa wonder if the girl was normally this suspicious of strangers or if it was because of whatever happened with Reece.

Lord, she just couldn't take the suspense any more. While Karissa wasn't proud of what she was about to do, desperate times called for desperate measures. She would never be telepathic, but she could certainly improvise when the situation called for it.

"So where are you from?" she asked the girl casually.

Lindsay looked up from her plate, her eyes narrowed. "Vermont," she replied guardedly.

Karissa paid the girl's tone no heed. "Oh, nice," she said enthusiastically. "I've been there before. My friends and I drove down to the Ben and Jerry's factory a few years ago. You ever go?"

The little girl smiled slightly. "Last summer."

"Yeah? What was your favorite part?"

Lindsay bit her lip thoughtfully. "Um...seeing how the ice cream was made. And then getting to eat it."

Karissa nodded. "I liked the flavor graveyard. I used to eat From Russia with Buzz—that's a mix of White Russian and Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz ice cream—by the gallon back in high school, but they stopped making it."

The girl laughed. "I've never had that."

"Oh, it was so good. I really miss it," she said longingly. "But at least I'll always have Brownie Batter. If Ben and Jerry take that away from me, I swear I'll die."

Lindsay's eyes widened a fraction, the corners of her mouth turning up just slightly, and Karissa knew that she had her. "You like that flavor too?" she asked the girl.

"Yeah," Lindsay replied meekly. "It's my favorite."

"See, I knew it. I knew you had good taste," Karissa said as she walked over to the freezer. She searched through the stacks of frozen pizzas and vegetables until she found a small container in the back. Whirling around, she smiled at Lindsay. "You want some?"

"But I didn't finish my dinner," the girl protested, pushing her shorn hair out of her face.

Karissa grabbed two spoons out of the draw and sat down at the kitchen table next to Lindsay. "Don't worry about it," she said as she popped the top off the ice cream container. "These are extenuating circumstances, after all. You've had a rough day, haven't you?"

Some sadness and fear clouded Lindsay's eyes. "Yeah," she said softly.

"Well, chocolate ice cream is an amazing remedy. Trust me."

After a brief moment of hesitation, the girl grabbed her spoon and followed Karissa's lead by digging straight into the container. Karissa smiled to herself, thinking that she'd finally gotten Lindsay relaxed enough to provide more than one-word answers.

Okay. Start out slow. Don't scare the girl off. "So," she said as casually as possible, "how long have you known Reece?"

Lindsay licked the ice cream off her spoon. "Um, I just met him today."

"Really?" Karissa replied with some surprise. "He seems so protective of you."

"He saved my life," the girl said softly as some color flooded her cheeks.

Karissa grinned in spite of herself. She hadn't expected to get such a candid answer out of Lindsay until the pint was at least half gone. And she had to admit that it was nice to know that even if Reece had gone crazy lately, he was still helping people. "What did he do?"

Lindsay took another bite of ice cream and then coiled one of the longer strands of her hair around her finger. "It's a long story. You...you wouldn't believe me."

"I've got time," Karissa said lightly, even though she was so curious that she was ready to shake the story out of the girl. "Try me."

* * *

Reece drove back to Nick's apartment as recklessly as he'd driven to his own. At least his friend was quiet this time, forgoing the lectures in favor of anxiously clinging to the "oh shit" handle. He might be a little too self-righteous for his own good, but even Nick had the heart not to kick a man when he was down.

They made a few stops on the way back, checking out places that Lex sometimes went to—cafes, bookshops, music stores. It was a long shot, but Reece didn't realize how much hope he'd put into it until they'd gone to the very last place he could think of and his soulmate was still nowhere to be found.

Goddess, she was really gone. Reece could barely breathe through the pain in his chest. He wondered if she could feel it, wherever she was. And if she could feel it, he wondered if she even cared.

"I can't believe she did this," Reece whispered to himself.

Nick gave him a sideways glance from the passenger's seat. "Karissa said that Lex thought you wouldn't care if she left."

"What?" he snapped.

The witch shrugged. "You haven't been yourself for a long time, Cahill. We've all noticed. Apparently, Lex thought that it was her fault. She thought that you would be happier without her."

Reece probably should have gasped in shock, but instead he felt compelled to laugh. If there was one thing his soulmate was good at, it was blaming herself.

The laugh caught in his throat, however, as Nick's words sparked the memory of a conversation Reece had had with Lex a few months ago. He'd been getting ready to go out on patrol and she'd been standing in the kitchen, leaning back against the counter as she stared at the floor. It was the first time in over a week that Reece hadn't asked someone else to cover his shift and he'd been in a rush to leave so that he could get back home—back to his search for Zarek—that much sooner. While he'd been tying the laces of his boots, Alexandra had murmured something about being afraid they were drifting apart. Reece had told her that everything was fine. Then she'd asked if he was happy with her. After grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch, Reece had given her a quick peck on the cheek on his way out the door, saying, "Yeah, sure. Be back later. Don't wait up."

Damn it. Looking back on it, Reece wanted to kick himself. He knew how difficult emotional conversations were for Alexandra. Trying to start one with him must have cost her a lot, and he'd just callously dismissed her. How could he have been so insensitive and self-absorbed? That wasn't _him_. It just wasn't.

"This is all my fault," Reece murmured bitterly.

Nick snorted. "Hey, no argument here."

"But I just...I had to kill Zarek for her. She deserved justice for what happened to her."

"Yeah, she deserved it. But did she want it?"

Reece didn't have an answer for that because he'd never actually asked her. He hadn't even wanted her to know about what he was doing. He didn't feel that he had a right to throw the past in her face when it seemed like she'd made some semblance of peace with it.

His stomach turned as he suddenly realized that his crusade had never been about Lex at all. Hell, it had never even been about Zarek. It had been about him all along—his inability to deal with what had happened to her.

In response to Reece's strained silence, Nick shook his head sadly. "Goddess, you're an amateur. You're in a _relationship_ with her, Cahill. You're supposed to talk about this stuff. I mean, Karissa may not be my soulmate, but even _I_ know that."

"She didn't deserve to have everything—"

"There's that word again," Nick interjected with exasperation. "Cahill, just listen to me and try to get your mind around what I'm saying. What Lex _deserves_ is you. What she wants and what she needs is you. Now, if you don't want her, then—"

"I do," Reece insisted as he pulled up in front of Nick's building. Tiredly, he cut the engine. "I thought she knew that."

The other witch unbuckled his seatbelt, visibly relieved to be getting out of the car. "Well," Nick tossed over his shoulder as he opened his door, "actions speak louder than words."

The pain in Reece's chest deepened as he realized that he'd done neither. Not only had he neglected her, he'd never actually told her how he felt about her. Inside of her mind, he had seen the battles between her and her last lover, Tristan. He knew that Lex shut down every time Tristan got too close to her, and frankly, Reece didn't think he would be able to bear it if Lex did that to him. He'd told himself that she didn't want to hear that he loved her. He'd been so goddamn afraid of her pushing him away that he'd done that exact thing to her.

Christ, he'd been a fool.

For a moment, Reece rested his head on the steering wheel. He was so tired. He was tired of fighting, tired of worrying, tired of anger, tired of hate, but he couldn't remember the last time he felt anything else. He felt so lost and he didn't know how to find his way back.

Somehow, Reece found the will to get out of the car and follow Nick inside the apartment. He found the other witch in the kitchen with Karissa, who was washing the dishes. They were murmuring to each other, but Nick touched the human girl's arm when he saw Reece in the doorway of the kitchen, and they were both silent.

Reece glanced around the room and then turned to Karissa. "Where's—"

She held up a hand to cut him off. "Lindsay is fine," she said calmly as she shut off the faucet. "She was falling asleep at the table, waiting for you, so I told her she could lie down in the bedroom."

The tension in his body relaxed infinitesimally. "Okay. Thanks for staying with her."

Karissa smiled. "No problem." She turned to face him, meeting his gaze challengingly. "So who's Zarek?"

Reece was taken aback. "How did you—" he stuttered. "Lindsay told you about him?"

"Uh huh. She told me about what happened in the church. How you saved her life." Then she crossed her arms over her chest. "Why? Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"No, not any more. It's just that she was so uneasy about being left here with you...I'm surprised that she confided in you."

"Well, I happen to be an easy person to talk to, Cahill," Karissa said indignantly as she started to throw away some empty boxes and containers that were sprawled over the kitchen counter.

"I never said you weren't. But Lindsay—"

"Hey," Nick broke in, "didn't we just buy that pint of ice cream?"

Reece caught sight of an empty container of Ben and Jerry's in the human girl's hand just before she hastily threw it into the trash bag. "No," she replied in a tone that she probably intended to sound breezy. In effect, she sounded nervous.

Not for the first time, Reece thought that it was a good thing the girl never tried to play poker because her tells were blatantly obvious. Whenever she was lying, she bit her lip and refused to meet your eyes. Her movements would be somewhat hurried and if her hands were free, she often played with the ring on her right pinky or the charm on the end of her necklace.

Reece looked at Karissa, then down at the trash bag, and then back to her. After a few seconds, he finally figured her out and his mouth fell open. "Oh gods. You bribed Lindsay into talking with ice cream?"

"I didn't bribe her," the human girl snapped. "It was just...you know, girl talk."

Nick shook his head, seeming both appalled and amused. "Man, that's really low, Kar."

"Hey, you two ran out of here without telling me anything. I just wanted to know what was going on. Besides, Lindsay is comfortable around me now. So we all win."

She had a point. There were bound to be more times when Reece would have to leave Lindsay under someone else's guard and he wanted her to feel safe with them. "Fine," he sighed. "Whatever."

Ever the gracious winner, Karissa grinned smugly and then made a face at Nick.

"It doesn't really matter," Reece continued impatiently. "What matters now is finding Lex before Zarek does."

"Wait. Zarek is after Lex?" the human girl asked.

"Yeah. Look, Nick can catch you up on the details later. We need to start looking for her now. You made the new IDs for her, right?"

Karissa bit her lip. "Yes. Look, I'm sorry that—"

"Don't worry about it. Just help me find her. Please."

"You know I will."

They gathered in the living room. Karissa sat at the desk, in front of her laptop, and Nick stood behind her, looking at the screen over her shoulder. Reece, however, needed to move, so he paced back and forth across the room as the computer booted up.

"So Lex didn't tell you where she was going?" he asked Karissa.

"No. She just said she was headed somewhere warm."

Reece smiled. That was his soulmate, all right. Lex was the only vampire he'd ever met who couldn't stand the cold. "Okay, so we can assume she's going south."

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Nick said. "She could have flown to Tahiti for all we know."

"No," Reece replied. "She can't fly. Wherever she went, it was by car, bus, or train."

Karissa began typing furiously. "All right. I'll see if any Kimberly Bauers purchased a train or bus ticket in the last two days."

Nick wrinkled his nose. "Kimberly Bauer? That's the name you gave her?"

"Yes."

"Kar, I think it's safe to say that your obsession with _24_ is getting a little out of hand."

"You're hardly one to lecture me on obsessions, Nick. How many hours of _Buffy_ have you watched in the last few weeks?"

"But come on," Nick retorted, "no one even likes Kim's character."

"Well, no one likes you, but you don't hear us complaining," Karissa replied sweetly.

Reece paced faster as he tried to block out the couple's playful bickering. It reminded him too much of the way he and Lex were when he first brought her up to Montreal. They were still practically strangers at that point—strangers who, thanks to the soulmate link, happened to know each other intimately. It had been so awkward. Reece had known her deepest fears, and yet he hadn't known what kind of food she liked, what TV shows she watched, or how she liked to spend her day. Of course, it certainly hadn't been any easier for her than it was for him. To cover up their discomfiture, they had often taken small, good-natured digs at each other. And maybe that was the problem. With all of the teasing, neither of them had learned to tell each other how they really felt. So when the stress of Reece's search for Zarek began to take its toll on him and the jokes stopped, there was nothing left between him and Lex but silence.

"Got it," Karissa said, and the urgency of her voice snapped Reece's mind back into the present. "She bought a bus ticket to New York City two days ago. It left here at 11:30PM and it got into New York at 7:45AM."

Nick cursed. "She could have gone anywhere from there. Cahill, can you think of anything else to narrow down the search?"

"Um...I don't know," he replied as he ran his fingers through his hair. "This is just a gut feeling, but I don't think she would have left the east coast. She grew up on the Atlantic, so it's where she feels most at home."

"Okay. So we're going for south, the east coast...Florida, maybe?"

"Maybe."

Nick turned away from the computer. "Cahill, your pacing is going to drive me crazy. Can you please sit down? Actually, better yet, why don't you lie down and get some rest? Karissa and I can handle this."

Reece shook his head. "No. I'm not going to relax while my soulmate is missing and might very well be back in the possession of the man who tortured her for three decades."

"You told me yourself that you haven't slept in days. You're not going to be much good to Lex or Lindsay or any of us like this. You need to rest."

"I said no," Reece snapped.

The other witch sighed. "Fine. Then you've left me no choice."

Reece didn't recognize the words that Nick said next until it was too late. One second, he was whipping around to pace in the other direction, and the next, his legs gave out underneath his weight. Darkness enveloped him as he fell and Reece Cahill was asleep before his head hit the floor.

* * *

Darkness pressed against the windshield of the car—dense and empty and cold. As Aiden St. Helen plunged through it at eighty miles per hour, he almost felt as if he were gliding through the vacuum of space. There was no force of gravity to ground him. No true sense of direction. He could have been moving forward or backward; there was simply no way to know for sure. There were no absolutes. Nothing certain. Relativity left him adrift.

He listened for her. In vain, he searched inside of himself for her presence, for the part of his soul that she had possessed for nineteen months. For so long, it had felt like there were two people living in his mind, each vying for control of him, but suddenly the battle had ended. She had abdicated, leaving him alone. Bereft. And also, somehow, calm. Clear. Light. Each time he glanced into the rearview mirror, he saw his own silver eyes shining back at him like moonlight reflecting off a blade, and he felt eerily like himself.

The girl in his passenger seat fiddled with the radio, trying to find a decent station. They were between Philadelphia and Baltimore now, and the choices were limited. He'd discovered, not surprisingly, that her tastes ran similar to his. She liked Radiohead. Linkin Park. Smashing Pumpkins. Depeche Mode. Nine Inch Nails. She would enjoy any modern rock station until they played something by Creed or Dave Matthews Band, and then with a sigh of disgust, she would begin flipping again.

Alexandra appeared content, but there was fear inside of her—Aiden could feel it. She had fallen asleep shortly after they left Phoenicia and had woken up an hour later screaming as loudly as she had when he first found her in the motel. She hadn't wanted to discuss it, but in the end, there was really no need. He knew she was dreaming about the vampire that made her. He felt her growing terror and he knew that that was the cause of the divide between her thoughts and her words. It still fascinated him and it pained him, but Aiden knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Lame platitudes would not help her and he respected her too much to even try to talk down to her like that.

Lex's finger paused on the button as a melodic guitar riff filled the car. After a moment, Aiden recognized the Metallica song and gave her a puzzled look. Twice during the ride so far, she had changed stations when one of their songs had come on just as readily as she had when Scott Stapp's froggy voice clogged the speakers.

"I thought you didn't like Metallica," he noted.

She looked at him sharply, as if he'd startled her. "I don't," she said softly. "But these lyrics are pretty. I've never really listened to them before."

Aiden had always thought they were rather hackneyed, but for a minute, he listened quietly along with her.

_what I've felt  
what I've known  
never shined through in what I've shown  
never be  
never see  
won't see what might have been _

_what I've felt  
what I've known  
never shined through in what I've shown  
never free  
never me  
so I dub thee unforgiven_

"You feel unforgiven, angel?" he asked her as the song dove into a guitar solo.

But Lex dodged questions with more frequency and grace than anyone he'd ever known. "Don't you?" she replied easily.

Of course he did. For months, his guilt had damn near crippled him. He supposed now that Eve had left him, he should feel even guiltier, but in truth, he felt nothing. It was odd and a little empowering, and it made him laugh. "If I said no, would you think that I was a horrible person?" he asked.

"No. I would think that you were a liar."

Aiden smiled. "Maybe you would just be projecting."

He could feel Lex's eyes on him, trying to figure out if he meant what he said. "Do you remember when I came to see you in the infirmary after you attacked me?"

"How could I ever forget?" he asked flirtatiously.

"You asked me how you were supposed to live with yourself after what you'd done."

He shrugged slightly. He really didn't want to be reminded of that pain, now that he'd found some relief from it. "I'm still alive, aren't I?" he replied.

"Maybe about as alive as I am."

Aiden paused, knowing that she was right. What he'd been doing for the past nineteen months could hardly qualify as living. He had only existed. He'd drifted through time with nothing but the thought of Alexandra to keep him from running a stake through his own heart. And he didn't want to think about that, either.

"I _was_ forgiven," he said tightly. "You, yourself, told me that." Then he leaned forward to change the radio station.

Lex turned her head toward the window. After a few minutes, she asked in a strange voice, "Do you miss her?"

Aiden glanced at her and then drew his eyes back to the road. "That's not the question you really want answered, is it?" he asked. "You want to know if he misses you."

"No. I already know that he doesn't. And he shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Do you miss her?" she asked again as she turned to look at him.

"I'm not him, Lex."

"And I'm not her."

"I know that," he said tersely. "You're everything she's not."

"And vice versa."

He hesitated, unsure of what she really meant by that, but he finally conceded. "Yes."

"Do you miss her?" Alexandra asked for the third time.

Aiden swallowed hard and looked down at the gauges on the dashboard, glad that she couldn't see his eyes. With her power, she might be able to find the answer to her question and whatever it was, Aiden didn't want to know.

"I have to stop for gas," he said.

Lex just nodded and turned her head away again. Silently, she stared at her own distorted reflection in the window. He was tempted to touch her, to try to see what was going through her mind, but he decided that they both needed their space for a while.

He pulled off the highway and onto a curvy road that was heavily lined with trees. While living in Washington, D.C, Aiden had heard that northern Maryland was fairly rural, but he'd never expected anything like this. The road was nearly as isolated as the ones in upstate New York had been.

The air was warmer when he stepped out of the car at the nearest gas station—some no-name place a couple of miles off the highway. The few hundred miles south they had traveled had already made a difference in the climate. The breeze felt nice against his face as he filled the gas tank, but he knew that it was still about forty degrees colder than Lex wanted.

The convenience store was practically empty when Aiden went inside to pay. There was only the clerk behind the counter and a blond woman in the back who was examining the candy.

He gave the clerk his pump number and the man rang it up. "That'll be twenty-four dollars."

Aiden looked at the clerk curiously as a thought suddenly struck him: he didn't actually have to pay for the gas. In fact, he could leap over this counter and drain the man dry if he wanted to. There was nothing to stop him.

Or was there...

Eve hadn't protested when he'd attacked the man who had taken advantage of Lex, but Aiden didn't think she'd stay silent if he killed someone. She hadn't even liked it when he killed Daybreak's enemies—_her_ enemies, ultimately. If she was still with him, there was no chance that she would stand for him killing an innocent person.

"Sir?" the clerk prompted impatiently.

Aiden looked the man up and down with some distaste and decided that he was too old. The skin of his throat was sickeningly loose and his body odor could only be described as rancid. Aiden wanted to do this experiment, but he still had standards.

Then he caught the smell of the woman in the back of the store. Her perfume was a little too florally, but under that was the scent of her blood—rich and warm. His canines lengthened, stabbing into his lower lip painfully.

"Sir!" the clerk snapped.

"Sorry," Aiden said smoothly as he threw thirty dollars on the counter. "Keep the change." Then without waiting to see if the man was placated, he quickly turned on his heel and went down the candy aisle.

The woman saw him approaching and she straightened up to give him a smile. She wasn't as pretty as Aiden had initially thought, but the scent of her blood still made his mouth water. He had expected his heart to be pounding in anticipation of crossing this line, but his pulse remained slow and steady as he smiled back at the woman.

She didn't cringe or step back uncomfortably, as so many people did when Aiden came close. The woman was fooled by the pale beauty of his eyes, the graceful curve of his cheekbones, and the lithe muscles of his body. Her survival instincts were severely lacking and Aiden thought that it was a wonder she had lived this long.

The woman batted her eyes and tossed her long, blond hair over her shoulder. "Do you need something?" she asked him.

Aiden's gaze fell to the creamy skin of her neck. "Yes," he whispered. "I do."

Then he closed the distance between them and dipped his head. His fangs pierced her throat and the woman sighed softly against him. Her blood was sweet as it spilled over his tongue and the taste made his head swim. Aiden held on to her tightly and felt her heart beating in time with his own. But as he drank, her pulse fell behind while his raced ahead.

He strained his senses and listened for Eve. He waited for a shudder of protest or a sharp gasp in his ear. He searched inside of himself for the sense that this was _wrong_, but there was nothing.

Aiden sucked harder, drawing forth every last drop of blood running through the woman's veins. There was no turning back now. Her skin was cool to the touch as she went limp in his arms. She gasped once and then was silent. Her heart sputtered and finally succumbed.

Still, there was nothing.

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

Dizzy, he let the woman fall to the floor. He leaned forward against the rack of candy while the ground disappeared from under his feet. So amazing, this rush. So very much the same as he remembered it. Why had he ever stopped? What had it gotten him?

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

More, damn it. He had to have more.

Desperation shattered his arrogant notion of "standards" and he flew to the front of the store. The clerk was nowhere to be seen, but Aiden knowingly vaulted over the counter and found him cowering behind the cash register. Hauling the old man to his feet, Aiden went straight for the jugular. He didn't bother trying to make it painless this time and the clerk screamed and trashed in his grip. Aiden only laughed against his throat until the screams faded.

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

The gorge left him feverish and his skin was burning as he stepped out into the night again. He was half-blind from the bright lights inside the store, but when his vision cleared, the first thing he saw was Alexandra's dark curls pressed against the passenger-side window.

Feeling his eyes on her, she lifted her head and met his gaze. Brazenly, he stared at her, and just as he had the day they met, Aiden let her pierce his soul. He let her see what he'd done in the store. Let her feel what he felt in that moment.

What he felt in return was...nothing. No hint of judgment. No sense of disappointment. No anger or frustration. Lex accepted him for what he was. Her feelings for him had nothing to do with his actions.

Aiden strode up to the car and wrenched her door open. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her up out of the car. Her weight was nothing to him as he opened the back door and shoved her inside. Pressing her down into the seat, his kissed her.

She made some small noise of protest, but the next instant she was arching up against him. Greedily, she licked at the residual blood in his mouth and a moan vibrated deep in her throat.

Even though he had started this, Lex took control, as always. Reversing their positions, she tore at their clothes urgently. They were cramped in the back seat, but she didn't even seem to notice. Her fingers moved nimbly and her limbs stretched and bent in directions Aiden hadn't known were possible. The girl was as flexible as a dancer.

And perhaps this was a dance. They moved together and came apart in the same instinctive rhythm, the tension between them building synergistically. When it finally broke, Aiden looked up into her eyes, but all he saw was his own reflection staring down at him.

As she collapsed on top of him, her mass of curls falling over his face, the link between them hummed. And even though she didn't like it, he held her tightly, clinging to her as if someone was trying to rip her out of his arms.

_Not her, too. Not yet…_

Lex squirmed and pulled back slightly. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked him.

"No," Aiden replied. "Nothing."

_Nothing, nothing, nothing…_

_

* * *

_

Phew! I got this part out in under a month:) I want to thank all of my reviewers for being so kind and enthusiastic. Everyone seems to be mad at me for taking Genevieve away from Aiden, but I swear it was

her_ idea, not mine. I wasn't even going to go there, but then she just decided to up and leave all on her own. Don't hate me:)_

_incarnated-soul: Thank you!! See my comments above about taking away Eve. It wasn't my doing! You said that you can't believe Lex thinks Reece cares about her past, but actually, she _is _right. He's changed because of her past, but not really in a way that has anything to do with her. Of course, she doesn't know that. She's good at blaming herself. And yes, the Daybreakers and the consequences of Reece's illegal spell are going to play a role in the future. Thank you for your slew of compliments. :)_

_silver trees: Thanks for reading. Again, sorry about taking Eve away. But you'll see her again, I promise! _

_CalliopeMused: Thanks! Heh, no lego love for my characters. If I did that, this story wouldn't have even happened. I like my characters flawed. Fun with geography! Yes.. I had many geography decisions to make, but I think I've finally got it sorted out._

_Daugain: Thanks for reading even while you are on your trip. Yeah, Reece is getting his ass handed to him now. He totally screwed things up and he knows it. He just hasn't figured out how to fix it yet. Hm.. will Lex and Aiden continue to clash.. perhaps.. The thing is that they clash a little, but not really in a way that matters. They usually argue about things that aren't very important, but back away from their real issues._

_enchantednight84: Thank you! Keep reading:)_


	12. Relapse

_The fire raged like a storm—loud and violent and chaotic. Clouds of black smoke bloomed overhead as cinder rained down on her, singeing her clothes and hair. The roar of the scorching winds was deafening as they blew the flames precariously close to where she lay on the floor. Her maker's spit was sizzling on her forehead in the heat, but she lacked the strength to wipe it away. He had stabbed and drained her before leaving her in this inferno and now she was too weak to even lift her arms to cover her mouth from the acrid smoke. _

_Strangely, there was no pain. When the fire finally reached her, its flames licking her body from head to toe, it was with detached fascination that she watched her skin melt and stick to the floor like tar. As the stench of burning flesh choked her, she wondered dimly if she would asphyxiate or burn to death. And it seemed apt somehow to be dying in a fire now when her last death had been in water._

_Mostly, she couldn't think at all. The eyes of the young, human girl that her maker had brought home before setting this fire haunted her. What she'd seen swirling in those brown depths was terror and innocence and blessed ignorance. The girl did not know what horrors awaited her—such things were still beyond her imagination. _

_But not for long._

_Hope had still glowed inside of the girl. Hope that her parents would find her. Hope that she would find a way to break free from the frighteningly beautiful, black-eyed man. Hope that she would still be able to grow up and fall in love and have both children and a career—the new American dream—and be happy. She was still naive enough to believe that good triumphs over evil and horrible things did not happen to young girls like her._

_But not for long._

_She would soon learn the unspeakable cruelty of life. How it felt to have your body torn in two. To be used and desecrated—laid to waste with no chance of escape. To beg for a death that would never come and to be the one who denied that mercy to others. She would soon learn what savagery she was capable of wielding in order to survive. _

_Alexandra knew, because she had been that girl once. If she sifted through all of the memories of rape and torture, all of the blood, all of the screams, all of the ecstasy and the agony...somewhere beneath was the hazy memory of the innocent human girl she'd been before her maker had pulled her under the water. She remembered being the petrified child praying for someone to rescue her. She remembered her desperate attempts to run from him, in body and mind. She remembered fighting tooth and nail, even if it was in vain. Even if it only caused her more pain in the end. She remembered clinging to scraps of faith that she would some day be free of him._

_Instead, she had become him._

_As the flames engulfed her, she felt something inside of her awaken. A force. An instinct. It gave her impossible strength as it took control of her limbs, demanding that she run from the fire. That she survive. It was as if the fire was exorcizing the monster inside of her and it was fighting for its life. _

_She battled it. Her body writhed on the floor as the monster ordered it to flee and she forced it to remain. Her arms thrashed. Her legs kicked. Her nails dug into the fiery floorboards. _

_As she finally started to lose consciousness and her body gave out, the monster roared. It would not be put down. It would not be cast aside. It would persevere. She would never escape. Never be free._

_It owned her. He owned her, body and soul._

Don't try to escape. I will always find you.

* * *

Alexandra woke to the sound of a shrill scream filling the small, enclosed area inside the car. Her ears were ringing and her eyes snapped open to find the long, dark highway stretching out before her. The sound vibrated around her, thin and piercing, and it seemed to warp the fabric of reality. She could almost see the waves flowing away from her and reflecting off of the windshield to return in a frontal assault. It wasn't until someone clamped a cool hand over her mouth that she realized the scream was her own.

Even knowing that, Lex couldn't control the sound. The scream felt like a living thing as it exploded from her throat, launching itself against the hand that covered her mouth, refusing to be contained. It burned through her breath and choked her, not caring if it killed her so long as it escaped.

Then there was a voice inside of her head, shouting her name. She knew that it was meant to startle her into silence, but it only fueled the scream further as it grew even more desperate.

No one was allowed in her mind. Never again.

The voice became louder and so did the scream, but rather than obliterating each other, the two forces fused together, magnifying one another. It felt like a tidal wave was building inside of her and Lex knew that when it crested and crashed, she would be swallowed whole.

After her dream, part of her didn't care. Tired of the battle, she longed for the quiet. And yet she found herself instinctively digging her nails into her palms, breaking the skin and drawing blood. There was a moment of blinding pain as the energy, seizing the opportunity, rushed out of her in a blast of brilliant blue heat.

The scream died on her lips as the windows in the car shattered. A gust of icy wind blew her hair back and Lex squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught. Tires screeched and she was suddenly jerked to the right. A moment later, she was thrust forward into the seatbelt as the car slammed to a stop.

The brutal wind was almost still, but Alexandra's teeth were still chattering as she trembled violently. She kept her eyes tightly shut as she felt a pair of hands unbuckling her seatbelt and running over her face and hair.

"Are you okay?" someone asked her aloud. "Lex!"

Tentatively, she opened her eyes to find Aiden cupping her face in his hands. His gray eyes were soft as he gazed at her and one of his thumbs caressed her cheekbone. He was being so careful, so gentle, and she couldn't bear it.

She cringed back from him and slapped his hands away from her face. "I'm okay," she said hoarsely.

Aiden nodded once and then pulled away. "Is this screaming a normal thing for you?" he asked.

It used to be. For three years, Lex had often woken up screaming as dreams of her maker chased her into the waking world. After she met Reece, however, the dreams had faded to the point where weeks passed between them. Sometimes, even months. Now she had had three of them in two days, and this last one was so bad that it had incited the blue fire within her.

Dear god, she was coming apart.

Alexandra Harper knew fear. She knew the way that it crawled over your skin like a swarm of insects creeping up to the back of your neck. Once there, it burrowed its way into your bloodstream, spreading through your body with each thunderous beat of your heart. It displaced the oxygen in your cells and your breaths became quick and shallow. It plundered every organ, one by one, before finally infecting your nervous system, locking your muscles into a state of contraction until your jaw ached and your body was racked with tremors. It urged you to run, even as it left you paralyzed. And when the fear ultimately seeped into your brain, it drove you mad. It became your closest friend, your constant companion. Your filter. Your savior. Given enough time, you believe that you cannot survive without it.

You are very wrong—even someone as damaged as Lex could learn that.

But as time and space pulled her and Reece further and further apart, her conviction wavered. As the soulmate link stretched and thinned, the fear that she had learned to control over the past year and a half was breaking free.

She realized at that moment that she'd never actually overcome it. Whatever strength she'd believed she gained recently had been Reece's all along. She had sucked it through the link between them like a parasite, leaving him with nothing.

To torment her, Angie Catellini had once given Lex the moniker "Soul Stealer." Right now, it seemed now that her taunts had actually been rather close to the truth.

The fear had known. It had retreated into the back of her mind, letting her believe that she had defeated it. It had bided its time while she leeched off of Reece's strength. Now that she and Reece were truly over, it had come to collect what rightfully belonged to it.

If she was getting worse, though, then maybe Reece was getting better. Maybe while she woke up screaming, he woke up feeling invigorated. Revitalized. Maybe he was feeling like himself for the first time in ages.

It was what she had wanted. It was the reason she left. But suddenly she found that the thought didn't bring her much comfort. She knew from experience that there was only one thing that could.

She looked at Aiden, who had slouched down in the driver's seat, his long legs crossed at the ankles near the gas pedal. His head was back against the headrest as he smoked a cigarette, waiting for her to calm down. If she were to throw herself on him now, he would be only too willing to give her what she needed. But the softness that she'd seen in his eyes a moment ago gave her pause. And the memory of the way he'd held her close in the back seat after the last time made her decide against it.

Besides, even though he seemed completely relaxed as he smoked, Alexandra could feel a strange, frenetic energy pulsing through the link between them. There was something very wrong with him.

The corner of his mouth turned up. "Or maybe there's something right. Finally."

Lex shuddered. "Don't read my thoughts." She meant it as a plea, but it came out as a hiss. "I can't take it right now."

Aiden just nodded and took a long drag from his cigarette.

"How bad was it?" she asked him. "The blast."

He shrugged. "Bad enough to blow the windows out. But since we're talking about blue fire, I'd say that it had to have been pretty small to do that little damage."

Alexandra swallowed as relief flooded her. Then she licked her lips. "I'm sorry about your car."

"Don't worry about it," he replied as he reached for the door handle and pushed his door open. "It was on its last leg anyways."

She frowned a little as he got out of the car, but then she followed him.

They had pulled over on the side of a four-lane highway. She struggled to keep up with Aiden's long strides as he headed toward a thin line of trees. Just beyond there, Lex could see the lights of a few high-rise apartment buildings.

"Where are we?" she asked.

The vampire gave her a curious look. "You don't recognize it?"

She started to shake her head, but as they made it through the trees and stepped out onto a narrow one-way street, she spotted the license plate of a parked car. Then she froze.

Washington, D.C.

No, that was impossible. Washington was only two hours away from northern Maryland, where they had stopped at the gas station. There was no way that her nightmare could have been that short.

Aiden gave her a smile over his shoulder as he kept walking. "Home sweet home."

Lex ran up to him and grabbed his arm. "Are you crazy? We have to get out of here. It's not safe."

Languidly, he took another drag from his cigarette before throwing it on the ground. "It's not that bad. In fact, I think Detroit overtook D.C. as America's most dangerous city a few years ago. Besides," he made a sweeping gesture, "we're in the northwest."

Her temper flared. "It's not safe for me, Aiden."

"The Night World doesn't know about you," he assured her. "The people that stormed the Daybreak compound with Angie either died or were captured and had their memories altered. As far as the Night World is concerned, Eve is still alive and well."

Reece had told Lex as much, but it was good to hear it from someone who knew the Night World more intimately. Still, it wasn't enough to ease her anxiety. "Some of the Daybreakers here know."

"They only know that you exist. They don't know your name or your face, Lex."

"Fine," she replied with exasperation. "But they know yours. And so does the Night World. This is the most dangerous place for you to be right now."

Aiden's smile broadened. "You think so?"

She let go of him and stepped back so that she could see his face. "Do you have a death wish?"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied. "You're the Wild Power who was releasing blue fire in an uncontrolled environment. If the blast had been any bigger, you'd have every Daybreaker and Night Person in the city hunting you down."

"I didn't do it on purpose."

The vampire raised his eyebrows in response to that, as if to say, _Oh no?_ Then he sighed wearily. "We need a car, Lex."

"Can't we steal one of these?" she asked, pointing to the cars parked along the street.

He threw her an amused glance. "You want me to steal?"

"To get us out of here? Yes."

Aiden laughed. "You really are everything Eve's not."

"And vice versa," Lex replied, as she had done earlier. She still wasn't entirely sure what she meant by it. Maybe she just didn't want him thinking more of her than of his own soulmate. She couldn't really explain it, but Genevieve meant something to her. The witch's blood ran through her veins. Some of her memories lived on in Alexandra's mind. They had shared something when the witch had given her life to Lex—something special that she had never experienced before or since. No matter what Aiden wanted to believe, she knew that she couldn't compare to Genevieve. And she didn't want to.

"No," Aiden suddenly said.

Lex looked at him, puzzled. "No, what?"

"You wanted to know if I missed her. My answer is no."

It was a lie, Alexandra was certain. She just wasn't sure if he actually believed it. "You don't have to say that for my sake."

"I didn't. I knew it the moment I looked at you when I came out of that gas station. You saw what I'd done—you felt what I'd done—and you didn't care."

How could she have cared? When she had looked into his eyes at that moment, she was swept away—caught by the high he had been riding after his kill.

Still, she doubted that she would have cared if she'd been in her right mind anyway. After all of the things she'd seen and done in her life, she was in no position to judge anyone. She left that up to people like Reece.

Aiden started walking again and Lex fell into step with him.

"When was the last time you fed?" he asked after they had turned out onto a busier street.

"Before I left," she replied with an automatic wince. Reece was always chiding her about not feeding enough.

"From another person, I mean."

"The day I met Reece," Lex said. Then she added softly, "The day that I met you."

He turned his head sharply, his eyes betraying some emotion that his bland expression fought to conceal. Even without searching his mind, she knew what he was thinking: his soulmate was Lex's last kill.

All he said was, "Those two humans at the gas station were the first for me since that day, too."

Now that was a surprise. It wasn't that she'd expected him to go on slaughtering sprees after what had happened last year, but he was still Aiden St. Helen for god's sake.

"Don't you miss it?" he pressed.

A few hours ago she might have said no, but after sharing Aiden's high through the soulmate link, she knew that that would be a lie. "Sometimes."

"I do," he admitted. "I've spent the last nineteen months trying to be what Eve wanted. What she deserved. But when I killed those humans, I realized that there is no way I can be that person. And it's pointless anyway. She's dead." His mouth twisted bitterly. "She's dead and I'm alive and I know what I am."

Lex looked up at him, wondering if he could possibly know just how similar his struggle was to hers. She had tried so hard to be good for Reece, but no matter what she'd done, it had only hurt him in the end. She was toxic.

"What are you?" she asked him softly.

He smiled at her, his silvery eyes glinting in the moonlight. "Come with me, angel, and I'll show you."

* * *

"You find anything yet?" Nick asked her.

"No," Karissa replied impatiently. "And if you don't stop asking me that every three minutes, I'm going to bitch-slap you."

"Baby," he said slowly, "it's been an hour since I last asked."

She drew her eyes away from the computer to argue with him, but she could barely make him out through the afterimage of the screen that stained her vision. Rubbing her gritty eyes, Karissa realized that he was right. Time was slipping by her at a frightening pace and she still couldn't find any sign of Lex.

"Sorry," she grumbled. "I'm just frustrated."

Nick came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. As his fingers and thumbs worked out the knots, Karissa moaned and let her head fall back.

"Better?" he murmured with a smile.

She smiled back dreamily. "Mm. Have I ever told you how much I love your hands?"

"Several times." His slid his thumbs lower and pressed them into her shoulder blades. "I'm starting to think you're only dating me for the massages."

"No, I'm in it for the sex, too," Karissa replied dryly.

Nick leaned down and let his lips graze her ear. "Is that right?" he purred.

Leaning back in her chair, she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, holding his lips against her. "Mmhmm."

"Well, in that case, how about you take a break from this?" he whispered. "I want make sure I'm keeping you satisfied."

"Aw, baby," she whined. "You know I'd be up for it if Cahill weren't in the room."

Nick laughed softly. "He won't be waking up any time soon. I promise you that."

"No, but it would still be very, very wrong."

He nibbled her earlobe. "To the bedroom, then?"

"Lindsay," Karissa reminded him.

With a long-suffering sigh, he straightened up and resumed rubbing her shoulders. "Damn. When did our place turn into a hotel?"

"When our boss went crazy with the need for vengeance and wound up pushing his soulmate away in the process?" she offered. Then she let out a sigh of her own. "I still can't believe it."

"I know," Nick replied grimly. "I never would have thought Cahill would be capable of it."

"No, not that. I just can't believe that I knew Lex for a year and a half and I never even suspected that she was lying about her past. I mean, looking back on it, there were plenty of signs, but I just never paid attention to them."

"No one did. Honestly...I never paid much attention to Lex at all."

The vampire girl had wanted it that way, Karissa realized. She had deliberately made herself invisible. Of course, with how loud and raucous Reece's team could be, it probably hadn't been too hard of a task. While they had been laughing and arguing and taking down the Night World, Lex quietly slipped into the background.

"Twenty-seven years," Karissa breathed. "I guess it's just a wonder that she's still sane."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Goddess knows that Cahill isn't. And he's only lived it second-hand for a few months."

Glancing at the witch who was still in a deep sleep on the couch, she realized that it had been a very long time since she'd last looked at him—really looked. He had lost weight, Karissa could see that now. His pale skin was pulled taut over his cheekbones. Even in sleep, his expression seemed strained. And she was startled to notice a few strands of gray hair woven into his auburn spikes. Jesus, he was only twenty-four years old...

It was amazing, the kinds of things people did to themselves for the sake of love.

"It's kind of romantic," she found herself saying. "Don't you think?"

"What is?" her boyfriend asked. "What Cahill did?"

"Yeah. He worked so hard to defend his soulmate's honor. It's like some sort of knight's tale, you know?" She clicked her tongue. "And they say chivalry is dead."

Nick abruptly let go of her shoulders and came around to the side of the desk. His hazel eyes burned into hers. "Kar, what he did was stupid and selfish and wrong. There's no excuse for vengeance. Not for him or for anyone else."

In response to his hard stare, she tilted her head slightly and gave him a soft smile.

He frowned at her. "What does that look mean?"

Karissa reached out and put her hand on top of his on the desk. "I was just thinking how lucky you are to have the luxury of having that opinion."

The witch recoiled from her as if she'd struck him. "Having a moral principle isn't a luxury," he snapped.

"Sometimes it is," she said, keeping her voice gentle. "You can't even imagine what Reece is feeling because nothing like what happened to Lex has ever happened to someone you love."

Nick's eyes widened in anger. "How can you say that? I lost my own sister."

"Yes," Karissa agreed. "And I find it telling that you never wanted to know anything about her death. How would you feel if you found out that she was tortured? How would you feel if the person who did it would never be caught?"

A muscle leapt in Nick's throat and his nostrils flared. "That was below the belt, Kar," he said heatedly.

Her witch could be scary. He didn't have the reputation of being the team's best interrogator for nothing. She knew that he was trying to intimidate her into backing down now, but she got up from her chair, instead, and went over to him. Placing her hands on his chest, she looked into his eyes. "What if it were me, Nick?" she asked softly. "Don't you remember how worried you were about me last night? What if I never came home? What if you found out that someone had raped me, strangled me, cut my heart out, or burned me alive? And what if they forced you to watch it over and over again? How do you think you'd feel?"

Pain cracked his stony expression. There was a glimmer of tears in his eyes as he opened his mouth to answer.

Karissa placed a finger on his lips to stop him. "You can't know. That kind of pain, you can't imagine it. You can't know what you would or wouldn't do until it happens to you. So why don't you cut Cahill a break?"

Nick looked away from her and nodded.

Standing up on her tiptoes, she gave him a peck on his cheek and a bright smile to diffuse the tension between them. As she sat back down, a fluttering warmth spread through her stomach; in spite of his flaws, _because_ of his flaws, she loved this witch so much.

"Are you still stuck at the same spot?" he asked a few moments later.

She looked at her computer screen as her mind turned back to the mission at hand. "Yeah. The bus Lex was on crashed down in the Catskills around 4AM and then she disappears. Over twenty-four hours later, there's still no hotel, no car rental, no train or bus tickets. Wherever she went after the crash, she must have paid cash, because she's completely off the grid."

"And Cahill thought she'd be easy to find," Nick snorted.

"So did I," she admitted. "I never would have helped her if I thought she'd be this good."

"I hate to ask, but do you think Zarek got her already?"

"No. He didn't find out she was alive until yesterday afternoon. She disappeared before that." She sighed again, almost growling in frustration. "What about you? Have you found anything?"

Since Nick was computer-incompetent, he had left the internet search up to Karissa while he read through all of the spell books he could find, searching for a spell that would be powerful enough to help them locate Lex from a long distance.

"Maybe. One of my great-grandmother's books has a section on soulmates." He picked up a thick book with a dusty, black cover from his pile and flipped to a dog-eared page. "If I'm reading this spell right, we might be able to use it to enhance the soulmate link. If we manage to gather enough power, Reece would be able to feel Lex even if she were on the other side of the world. It wouldn't give us an exact location, but at least we'd have something to go on."

"Well, I'm coming up empty-handed," Karissa said sourly. "So we might as well give it a shot. Wake up Cahill."

Nick shook his head. "Not yet. It'll take me a while to gather up the supplies I'll need, and he needs as much rest as he can get."

"Okay. Then I guess I'll get back to work until you're ready."

As she was reaching for the computer's mouse, a phone rang. Her cell phone had a Nelly Fertado ringtone, so she knew the call wasn't coming from hers. "Is that you?" she asked Nick.

He quickly checked his and shook his head. "No. It must be Cahill's." After rummaging through the pockets of Reece's coat, Nick found the ringing phone. "The number's blocked."

She launched out herself out of her chair as excitement bubbled up inside of her. "It might be Lex," she squealed, grabbing a fistful of Nick's sleeve. "You've got to answer it."

As soon as he did, Karissa was kicking herself for not ripping the phone out of Nick's hands and answering it herself. She could barely stand the suspense as she listened to his half of the conversation.

"Hello?"

Pause.

"He's a little…indisposed at the moment."

Pause.

"Nick Camden. I'm a member of his team."

Longer pause.

Then her boyfriend's eyebrows arched. "Okay," he said evenly, as if he were trying to mollify someone. "I'll get him. And who should I say is calling?"

After a brief pause, Nick's jaw dropped open. Instantly, his voice sounded stiffer. More formal. "Yes, sir. I'll get him, sir."

"Who is it?" Karissa asked as soon as he had the mouthpiece of the phone covered.

The witch swallowed. "Thierry Descouedres."

"Are you shitting me?" she gasped as quietly as possible. "What could he want with Reece?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." He walked over to the witch who was sleeping on the couch. "But we're about to find out."

* * *

Reece came awake instantly as the spell was lifted. His eyes snapped open to find Nick leaning over him and he had the sudden urge to ram his fist into the witch's jaw. "You fucking son of a bitch," he hissed as he sat up. "How dare you cast a spell like that on me—"

"Save it," Nick replied calmly. "You'll thank me later." Then he held out a cell phone and arched an eyebrow at him. "Thierry Descouedres for you."

Bile immediately burned the back of Reece's throat. He had to be asleep, still. There was only one reason for Thierry to be calling him now. So he had to be sleeping—_had to be_—because this was his worst nightmare. This was the moment he had been dreading since the day he had found his soulmate.

Lex was dead.

In a daze, he reached for the phone with a shaking hand. Miraculously, he summoned his voice. "Reece Cahill."

"Cahill," Thierry said, "I have you on the line with a rather irate Anton Parish."

Reece was startled. He had expected Thierry's first words to be, "I'm sorry," or "My condolences," or even something along the lines of, "Thanks for dooming the entire world." But Thierry actually sounded normal. And what did Lex's death have to do with Anton Parish?

The leader of the Daybreak compound did, indeed, sound incensed. "Care to tell me why your soulmate is using the blue fire on the bloody Capitol Beltway?"

Reece's heart damn near stopped.

Is using.

Is.

Present tense.

Lex was still alive.

"What?" he asked as he jumped to his feet.

"We know it wasn't Jez or Delos or Iliana," Thierry said. "I have confirmation that none of them are in the D.C. metro area. So that just leaves Alexandra."

"Wait," Reece interrupted as he started to pace. "I don't understand what you're talking about. What happened?"

There was a long pause over the line. "You honestly don't know?" Anton asked. "Aren't you with her?"

"No," he answered. "She left town a few days ago."

"You let her go on her own?"

"I didn't _let_ her do anything," Reece said in a thick voice.

Anton sighed. "I should have known." It was no secret how the lamia felt about Lex. He thought that she was a trouble-maker. A loose cannon. He would never forgive her for murdering Genevieve Harman, even though Gen had forced Lex to do it, and it was really unfair. While Genevieve had been treated like Daybreak's messiah, Alexandra was treated like a leper.

"Okay, I'll start from the beginning," Anton said, sounding as if he was seething with annoyance. "About twenty minutes ago, one of our shifters was driving on the beltway when he witnessed a blast of blue fire originating from a car up ahead of him. It shattered all of the windows. The car then pulled over into the breakdown lane, and the shifter pulled over about a half mile ahead of it to notify me. I called Thierry and we deduced that the source was your soulmate."

"And then you naturally assumed that she had done it deliberately just for shits and giggles?" Reece couldn't help snapping.

Anton faltered. "Well, not exactly—"

"Did it even occur to you that she could be in trouble?"

"Is she?" Thierry interjected.

Reece ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't want to tell them about Zarek, but if her maker did, in fact, have her in his possession, then the Daybreakers would be able to help rescue her.

Then again, at least Zarek would keep Lex _alive_—there was no fun in torturing a dead body, after all. If Lex's name and description were given out to the Daybreakers, it would only be a matter of time before the Night World found out as well. Then they would singled-mindedly hunt her down.

"I honestly don't know," he finally answered. "How big was the blast? Is the Night World all over this as well?"

"No," Anton said, sounding a little less hostile. Reece wondered if he'd actually managed to shame the lamia. "Relatively speaking, it was just a blip. None of our witches have picked up on anything, so I think we can assume that no Night World witches caught it either. If our shifter hadn't been behind them in traffic, we wouldn't know about this at all."

"So the only ones who know are the shifter and you two?"

"Right," Thierry replied.

The relief that flooded Reece was almost painful. "Good. Keep it that way." Then a thought struck him. "Did you get any information on the car?"

"It was a 1995 Honda Civic," Anton said. "After his first call to me, the shifter walked down to the car, but it was abandoned. We ran the plates and found out that the car used to belong to a guy up in Buffalo, New York, but he says that he sold it three weeks ago. The buyer paid cash."

"Buffalo," he repeated with a significant look at Karissa.

The human girl slowly shook her head and mouthed, "No." Lex hadn't been there. And after tracing Zarek's movements for the past few weeks, Reece was certain that the vampire hadn't been in Buffalo either. So whose car was it?

"Okay, listen," he said into the phone, "I'm going to take the next flight out of here. With any luck, I'll be in D.C. in less than three hours."

"I can call in an order for a charter flight," Thierry offered. "It'll get you here faster."

"Thank you. I appreciate that, sir."

"Will you be coming straight to the compound?" Anton asked.

Reece almost shuddered at the thought. He never wanted to see that Daybreak compound again. "No. As soon as I get into the city, I'm going to see if I can feel Lex out."

"All right. Call me if you have any updates or if you need any help."

"I will," Reece promised, but he seriously hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

When he ended the call, he found Nick and Karissa staring at him. The human girl seemed excited, as if she was a tabloid reporter on the brink of a particularly delicious scoop—she never could resist drama. But Nick had his arms crossed over his chest, his expression hard as he looked at Reece. He was expecting a blow.

"Washington, D.C.?" the witch said evenly.

"Yeah." Reece paused to take a deep breath. "So...there are a few more things that I haven't told you about Lex."

* * *

_I know this part is late again. Shame on me! But seriously, I had the mother of all writer's blocks. It was just plain awful. Then I woke up on Monday morning and it was completely lifted. So I cranked this out as fast as possible.. and thanks to my office being closed because of the snow, I am bringing this part to you today. In conclusion: Yay for weather gods! Boo for writer's block gods!_

_On another note, you may have noticed at the end of this chapter that things are starting to come to a head. A mere hundred some-odd pages into the story, I'm finally going to get Reece and Lex in the same room in the next part or two. And you can bet that it'll be pretty explosive. But that's all I'll say for now._

_Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last part. You are all terribly wonderful. :)_

_enchantednight84: Yes, I know. It is a painful love triangle I've got going on. But I promise that things will work out...one way or another. ;)_

_silver trees: Yay, I am very glad that you're hooked. Yes, I remember my promise about Eve and I will be keeping it. Be patient!_

_incarnated-soul: Thank you for your slew of compliments. You're too kind! I'd say you're on the right track with Aiden. Eve isn't around to be his conscience any more, so I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing more of his Hellraiser side. What does Lex feel for him? Right now I have to admit that I don't know, because she doesn't know. She needs him now, that's for certain. Their relationship is very physical, as you said, because that's the way both of their instincts run. But whether or not it'll turn into something more for either of them...well you'll have to wait and see. Oh, and I didn't really mean that Reece and Lex were bickery in that they fought a lot.. I'd say they were more playful, but with a definite sarcastic edge--that's just how Lex is. And you saw some of that at the end of Haunted. But I do love writing Nick and Karissa.. it's nice to write about a healthy relationship for once. _


	13. Joined and Disjointed

The charter plane was nicer than any other jet Reece had been on. It was spacious, with soft leather couches, a state of the art sound system, and lace curtains hanging over the small, round windows. There was no in-flight crew, but there was a bar at the back of the plane that was stocked with water, juice, soda, and top-shelf liquor. It was all very swanky and lavish. Even the martini glasses were made of real crystal.

Damn, it must be good to be Thierry Descouedres.

The only person enjoying the amenities, however, was Karissa. She sat on the couch across from Reece, her feet resting on the cherry coffee table as she happily sipped a tall glass of Sprite through a straw, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the plane.

"You know, I've never been to D.C.," she said as she reached forward to pluck a grape from the fruit bowl on the table. "My class took a three-day trip there when I was in eighth grade, but I got sick the day before and my mother wouldn't let me go. I was so mad, but now I guess it fits the whole expatriate thing I've got going on. Although, I suppose most expatriates go to Europe and not Canada, but that would have been too far from my family, you know?"

"What's an expatriate?" Lindsay asked. The young girl seemed to be rather at ease for someone who, in the past twenty-four hours, had been stalked, attacked, kidnapped, and woken up in the middle of the night to get on a flight to Washington with a bunch of strangers who wouldn't tell her what was going on. She sat next to Reece, resting her head sleepily against his arm.

"It's an American who decides they don't like America, so they move to another country," Karissa explained. "But then they're too lazy or hypocritical to actually change their citizenship."

Lindsay yawned. "You don't like America?"

"Oh, no, I love America. It's a great country, but when they canceled _Freaks and Geeks_, I wrote to my senator and I said, "I'm sorry, but there comes a day in every girl's life when she has to take a stand. I'm moving to Canada until that show is back on the air."

Reece couldn't help but smile at the confusion in Lindsay's voice as she started to ask Karissa what in the world _Freaks and Geeks_ was. He was incredibly thankful to have his human teammate with him at the moment. She might seem like a ditz sometimes, but he knew that her current bouncy demeanor was deliberate. She was trying to lighten the mood and keep Lindsay entertained.

"Don't encourage her with more questions, Lindsay," he said with a small laugh. "She left America to go to college at McGill University in Montreal. End of story."

Karissa pouted. "That was just the practical reason," she said primly, "but I like my version better." She tipped her head back to call behind her. "What do you think, Nick?"

The witch grunted from his place in the back of the plane, which was the biggest response that anyone had gotten from him since Reece had told him the truth—the whole truth—about Lex. He was obviously pissed off, which wasn't entirely unexpected or unwarranted. Reece just wondered how long he could expect this silent treatment to continue.

"My boyfriend, ladies and gentlemen," Karissa said dryly. "The King of Articulation."

Lindsay giggled a little against Reece's arm and then she yawned again.

"Do you want to lie down on the couch in the back?" he asked her. "Get some more sleep?"

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "No, no. I'm not tired."

A few minutes later, Karissa gave Reece a knowing smile. She pressed her hands together and tilted her head to rest on them, indicating that the young girl had fallen asleep.

"Thank the Goddess," he breathed. It wasn't that he didn't like having Lindsay around. In fact, he was surprised to find that he was growing attached to the girl. Even so, trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy was tiring.

Karissa seemed to read his mind. "You've got to tell her at some point, Cahill."

His lips tightened. "No, I don't."

The human across from him gave him an impatient look. "I don't mean you need to tell her _everything_, but she's on to us. She saw a lot back in the church and she hasn't rationalized it away. But she's dealing fine. I think she's just waiting for you to give her an explanation. So what harm could it do, telling her what you are? About Daybreak and the Night World?"

Reece glanced down at Lindsay and noticed, not for the first time, how small and fragile she looked. It was ironic because after spending the last day with her, he knew that she was anything but. So it wasn't that he thought telling her about the Night World would harm her, exactly, but it would cost her some measure of her innocence. More than anything, he wanted to protect that.

"I don't want to change her," he replied.

Karissa watched him for a few seconds. "You really care about her, don't you?"

He nodded.

"Well, just be careful, okay? She's head-over-heels for you."

Reece started to nod again, but then he froze. "Wait, what?"

She sighed loudly and shook her head. "Boys are so stupid."

"She's only _ten_," he argued, aghast.

"So what? You're gorgeous and mysterious and sweet and you saved her life. You don't have to be an adult to appreciate that. A girl would be a fool _not_ to fall for you."

"Ah, fuck." His fingers were itching to rake through his hair, but he couldn't risk moving with Lindsay leaning on his arm. "Does she know that Lex is my—"

"Soulmate, no—obviously. But girlfriend, yes."

He let out a slow breath. "So what the hell do I do?"

Karissa winced. "Well, you might want to think about starting a trust fund to pay for her therapy. You know, the wounds of adolescence take years to heal."

"Ah, fuck," he growled again.

"I'm _kidding_," she said, rolling her eyes. "Look, it's just a crush. She'll get over it, eventually. Until then, just be careful of her feelings, especially after we find Lex. Just be yourself…and not, you know, Bizzaro-Reece."

His mouth quirked. "Bizzaro-Reece?" This was the nickname that his team had given him after the past year? He probably should have been irritated by it, but instead he found himself laughing.

"Yeah," Nick interjected. "You know, the witch who lies to his friends and teammates and sneaks around behind their backs?"

The laugh faded as Reece bit down on a sigh of frustration. This argument was inevitable, he knew, so he might as well get it out of the way now. "It wasn't personal, Nick."

The other witch glared at him, his hazel eyes cold. "Really? Because in my book, trust is actually a very personal issue."

"It wasn't about trust," he said evenly. "It was about probability. The fewer people who knew what Lex was, the lower the risk that she would be killed because of it."

"Everyone knows about Jez, Delos, and Iliana. They're all alive." He sneered. "Or do you have some secret about _them_ you'd like to share?"

"Nick, lay off him," Karissa groaned.

The witch stormed over to them. "How can you defend him?" he snapped.

"Shhh. Keep your voice down," she replied softly, motioning to Lindsay.

"He lied to you, too, Kar." Instead of tempering it, the forced softness of his words accentuated his anger.

She held her chin thoughtfully. "You know, I seem to recall a certain conversation with a certain someone who said that, as leader, if Reece couldn't tell us something, then he couldn't tell us. And that's all there is to it."

"I said that when I still trusted his priorities," Nick replied stiffly.

Karissa smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Baby, let me break this down for you," she said slowly. "Wild Powers are Daybreak's priority, yes? Well, in case you haven't noticed, Reece is insanely protective of Lex, who just happens to be a Wild Power. Therefore, his priorities and Daybreak's priorities are one and the same. So chill out."

"If that were true, he would have told us about her so that we could protect her while he was off taking care of his new revenge business. Or better yet, _he_ would have stayed with her instead of getting involved with that in the first place."

"For the love of crap, Nick, we _just_ went through this—"

"Enough!" Reece quietly raged. "I won't stand for you guys fighting like this. Not now."

Tiredly, he looked up at Nick. "I know you're angry with me and I don't blame you for it. But the truth is that you've never worked outside of Montreal. You don't know what's really going on in Circle Daybreak. Neither did I until I went to D.C. last year.

"Aiden St. Helen was in Daybreak for years. By the time he tried to kill a Wild Power, he was third in line to run the entire compound. His case is not even that unusual these days. The war is coming and people are cracking. And more and more telepaths like Zarek and Angie Catellini are showing up every day."

His eyes moved from Nick to Karissa and back. "I trust you with my life," he said to both of them. "I trust you with Lex's life. If I didn't, then I never would have left her side for a second—and I mean that literally.

"What I don't trust is Circle Daybreak. Human nature. Good intentions. My luck. Random chance. Hate me for it if you want—I really don't care—but we're about to land in the lion's den and I need to know here and now if you're with me or not."

"Of course I'm with you," Karissa said softly.

Reece nodded, and then looked at his other teammate. "Nick?"

"Don't be an ass," the witch snapped. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yes. And I'm grateful."

Nick's eyes widened slightly, as if he was surprised, but he didn't say anything else until after the captain announced that they were making their final descent into Reagan International Airport.

"So do you have a plan?" the witch asked.

"Not really," Reece snorted.

"Okay. Can you feel Lex yet?"

"No. But I...haven't really tried."

"Why not?"

Reece didn't answer. He just let his gaze slide down to the floor uncomfortably.

Karissa leaned forward and put a warm hand on his knee. Lifting his eyes to her face, he saw that she understood his reason.

"If he's got her, then we'll find them," she said gently.

He couldn't speak. The thought of Zarek catching Lex was terrifying, but after Thierry's phone call, Reece knew that there was something else that he feared even more than his soulmate being in pain. It was selfish, but he couldn't help it—he'd rather have her alive and broken than...

"And if she's dead?" he asked hoarsely.

Neither of his teammates seemed to know what to say to that and Reece regretted the question. He didn't want to force them into giving him baseless and meaningless assurances.

Finally, Nick spoke up. "Wouldn't you rather know for sure?"

"No," he replied with a humorless laugh.

After another awkward pause, Karissa said, "This is what we came here for, Cahill. If you wanted to hide from the truth we could have stayed in Montreal." She gave his knee a squeeze. "Lex needs you right now."

She was right, of course. He'd come all this way to get his soulmate and he wasn't going to get anywhere by blocking himself off from her. If he wanted to find Lex, for better or for worse, he needed the soulmate link to do it.

As the plane touched down in Washington, D.C., Reece closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he let all of his walls down. His heart was pounding so loudly and rapidly that it took him a few minutes to recognize the distinctive tugging feeling on his chest.

"She's alive," he gasped as he opened his eyes. "And she's okay." Reece laughed as he reveled in the sensation of the soulmate link, even as his eyes stung. It felt as powerful and explosive in that moment as it had the first time he'd touched Lex's skin. Goddess, how long had it been since he'd appreciated this? And how had he lived without it?

It took a small eternity for the plane to taxi to the terminal. Anxiously, he woke up Lindsay. Taking her hand in his, he hurried to the front of the plane to wait by the door. When it finally opened, he dragged her out as he darted toward the gate with Nick and Karissa at his heels.

Because it wasn't yet 5AM, the metro rail wasn't open and they were forced to head out onto the street to hail a cab. "Thirty-fourth and N Street, Northwest," Reece said to the driver as he shut the door behind him.

Then he turned to his teammates. "Okay, listen. Lex has a townhouse in Georgetown. I don't think she's out that way, but it can't hurt to check. Once we confirm that she's not there, I want Karissa to stay at the house with Lindsay while Nick and I head back out to find her. Got it?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Karissa interrupted. "Lex owns a house in _Georgetown_? Damn...I knew she had a decent-sized savings account, but why didn't you tell us that she was _loaded_?"

Reece gave her a tight smile. "She's not. Technically, the house belonged to her last boyfriend, Tristan. After she left for Montreal with me, she gave it to our—company." He put emphasis on the last word with a subtle glance at Lindsay. "The housing market here has gone downhill over the past few years, so when the company had a hard time selling it, they decided to hang onto it in case they needed more office space. The deed is still in the boyfriend's name, though."

When the cab pulled up in front of the house, Reece paid the driver and they all got out. The front door was locked, but luckily Lex hadn't turned her key over to Daybreak when she'd left the city. It had been sitting in the bottom draw of her desk for the last year.

Of course, Lex wasn't there. He knew that even before he got the door open and led the way into the living room. Still, with Lindsay watching, he made a point of checking every room for appearance's sake.

It was strange to be in this house again. The last time he was here, he'd sat on the couch while Alexandra roamed the apartment room by room, mourning the loss of someone who Reece had never met, but for whom he harbored contradictory emotions. He'd been grateful to Tristan for taking care of Lex for so long, but he'd also despised the vampire for killing Beth. He pitied him for having to deal with Lex's silence, but he was also angry with Tristan for not pushing her hard enough to help her heal. The vampire may have thought that he was doing the right thing by backing off whenever she got defensive, but that hadn't done her any good. He had essentially allowed her fear and self-loathing to fester and grow for three years. But then Tristan hadn't been her soulmate. How could he have known? He just hadn't wanted to lose her.

Reece knew the feeling.

"She's not here," he said to his team as they gathered in the kitchen. "Nick, are you ready to hit the streets?"

The witch nodded. "Do you have any idea where to look?"

"Yeah, I think so." He couldn't say that he felt that Lex was just a few miles north and maybe a little east from where they were now, but he knew that Nick understood.

Crouching down on his knee, Reece put a hand on Lindsay's shoulder. "You'll be okay here with Karissa?"

The girl nodded sheepishly, blood rushing into her cheeks. Goddess, she really did have a crush on him, didn't she? He hoped that she got over it fast. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

He smiled and drew her into a hug. And then, placing his hand on the back of her head, he silently mouthed the words to the cloaking spell. And as the power rushed out of him, he was suddenly glad that Nick had knocked him out after all. If he hadn't, Reece wouldn't be rejuvenated enough to cast anything.

Lindsay's body jolted as the magick hit her and she pulled away from him.

"Are you okay?" he asked innocently.

She rubbed her arms briskly. "Yeah. I just felt cold all of a sudden."

"Oh, sorry about that. The house is a little drafty."

Standing up, he looked Karissa in the eye. "Take care of her for me, okay?"

His teammate smiled and brought her chin up. "You got it, Cahill."

Reece's pulse was racing as he and Nick headed out the front door. In just a few minutes, he was going to be with Lex. And he couldn't wait. It felt like it had been years since he'd last seen her, but as soon as he found her, he was going to take her in his arms and never let her go.

Screw Zarek. He didn't matter. Nothing mattered as long as he had his soulmate.

* * *

She followed him like a ghost through the streets of Washington, D.C. Even though she was a safe distance back, she didn't want to be here. Didn't want to be doing this. Dawn was approaching and with each passing minute, she could feel more eyes on her as the streets became more crowded. This was too risky. Too dangerous. In spite of Aiden's assurances, she couldn't help but think that someone would recognize her eventually. Things would be too damned easy otherwise. There was nothing fate enjoyed more than fucking you over the second you relax.

It had started to rain a while ago and now her clothes were drenched and she was shivering in the cold wind. Desperately, she wanted to let him go. She wanted to find a way out of this city and continue the journey south on her own, but something held her to him.

His rampage was escalating. When he started, his behavior hadn't been out of the ordinary: he'd stalked a human for a few blocks, getting a taste for his or her mind before going in for the kill. Now he barely paused to take in their scent before hauling them off the street and into an alley or an empty doorway. Each kill was bolder and bloodier than the last, and the time them between had waned until he seemed to be tearing into one after another after another. The violence in him would have been terrifying if she didn't understand it so well. And that was likely the reason that she couldn't make herself walk away.

She couldn't leave him. Wouldn't leave him. She needed to see how this would end.

Physically, he was beyond sated. The blood had slowly filled the whites of his eyes until it seemed that his gray irises were islands in a sea of lava. He was dizzy—she could feel that much—and he held his arm out as he walked, letting his fingertips graze the buildings next to him, using them as a reference point. He was drunk off the blood, but his pace never slowed. He was lost in a downward spiral, gaining momentum, and on some level she knew that he was pulling her down with him.

Bloodlust surged inside of her, fierce and demanding, as she watched him work. Yet she didn't dare join him—something told her that he didn't want it and wouldn't allow it. She was there to bear witness to him, not the other way around. So the only way to soothe the urge was to share in his rush. With each kill, she was drawn in deeper and deeper. Hours later, she felt her heart pounding in time with his. Even their gasps for breath were synchronized.

His eyes met hers during each kill and her power would rise, trying to thrust her inside of his mind in a way that even the soulmate link couldn't match. But every time, his gaze would waver, as if he weren't really seeing her, severing the connection before it was complete. As time passed, the longing she felt for that contact grew to be so excruciating that she no longer had the sense of mind to hate herself for it.

Unwilling to be denied, the power finally rose of its own accord and forged the connection even with his back to her…

And the world fell to pieces.

Or, at least that's what it felt like.

Her eyes wouldn't focus. She turned her head and the scene shifted frame by frame—like a movie reel. There were blinding flashes, the city before her sliced by shards of memory. Everything was broken. Disjointed. And the pieces she was left with did not fit together.

The noise was deafening. Gusting wind, shrieking voices, blaring music. It bled together into a continuous roar, with sudden spikes in sound that left her nerve-endings screaming. Her mind shattered and her body was ringing with pain.

She tried not to listen. Tried to absorb it all as one, but her mind couldn't help focusing on single fragments of sound. Aiden's voice, her own voice, guitar riffs, drum solos, scraps of lyrics—some she recognized and still others she'd never heard before.

And over and over again, just three words. A whisper. A hiss. A single question that she had posed. He tormented himself with it. He leapt from answer to answer, but nothing seemed right. And so the question survived. Persisted. Over and over again. A splinter in his mind…

* * *

_What are you? _

Blood in his mouth. Hair in his eyes. Scent of lavender and roses.

_Tired._

Shudder. Shudder. Fingers in his hair. Hips in his hands. Their knees weaken in unison. Predatory and prey. But which is which?

Doesn't matter. Pay attention. The edge is in sight. Close, so close. Adjust his grip to caress her neck. Her moan vibrating against his lips. She hovers on the brink and then he pushes her over.

_What are you?_

Final breath caressing his ear. Dead weight in his arms. Body falls to the ground.

World spins. Vision hazy. Equilibrium diffuses.

How many so far? No way to tell. Gravity pulled them all down. No, don't cry. No guilt now. Just humans. Just death.

_Wasted._

Slip on the sidewalk. Rain in his face. Brick at his fingertips. Which way is up? Which way is home?

Dangerous to gorge like this. Intoxication a given. Delirium imminent.

Laugh. Laugh.

Know your limits.

Screw your limits.

Bloodlust building. Again and again. Teeth sharp. Hunger burning. Human ahead.

Ground under his feet. Step forward.

_The hunger inside given to me makes me what I am..._

Surrender to the free fall.

_What are you?_

Lex's footsteps behind him. Always behind him. Feel the steadiness of her gaze on the back of his head. Unflinching. Unwavering. Unafraid.

_Accepted._

Are you watching, Eve?

_Hush now, you're insane._

McPherson Square. Man in the overcoat. Briefcase in his hand. Reeks of money. Power. Corruption. Slighted virtues, but without them, the world would be nothing.

Tackle him to the ground. Cashmere and silk against his skin. Blood thin and acerbic, betraying a life of stress and frivolities. Heart gives out too fast.

_What are you?_

Grab a cuff. Tug the coat. The body rolls, silk shirt in the mud. Slip his arms in the sleeves. Cool, smooth cashmere falls about his shoulders. Wind blows the tail back.

Shudder. Shudder. Laugh.

_Free._

Killing _and_ stealing. Oh my, what would his darling soulmate say?

_Do you love me? Tell me honestly._

Take a step. His head swims. Black spots and white streaks. Sight dims. Roar in his ears.

Woah. Easy, easy. Take a break. Ride the buzz. Don't look down. Just keep walking.

Don't close your eyes.

_Don't see that love in the last glimpse of shining violet eyes._

Block after block, the city passes by. Marble columns, domes, and arches fall behind. Monuments fade. Memories warp. Rain falls. Time stretches. Ceases to mean anything.

He had walked this way once before. His body knows the way. It takes control.

Instinct.

Silence behind him and he glances back. Is she still there? She had asked for this. Had wanted to know. Was she paying attention?

Meet her eyes. Polished sapphire. Door slamming shut. His own reflection staring back at him.

_Not her, too. Not yet…_

Anger emerges. Impatience. Why was she here if she wasn't really here? Why was she with him if she didn't really care? Why did she fuck him if she didn't feel anything?

Sudden flicker there—something he recognizes. Her power at the surface. She doesn't fight it. Lets it happen. She wants to pierce his soul. Wants to know.

Tear his gaze away.

_What are you?_

Be careful what you wish for.

Heels clicking on the sidewalk ahead. Blonde woman. Thin. Poor. Pathetic.

_Going to give myself up, up to the truth of what this is…_

Lunge at her. Tip her head back. Blood over his tongue. Full-bodied and rich.

She struggles and screams. Scratches and strains. Fights.

Ride her like a bull. No pity. No mercy.

_Fade out again…_

Flash in his mind. Boy with white-blond hair. Toothy grin. Musical laugh.

The woman's son. Her reason for fighting. Her reason for living.

One murder. Two lives destroyed.

Look over her shoulder and see blue eyes staring into him. She sees what he sees. Feels what he feels. Knows what he knows.

_The killer in me is the killer in you, my love…_

Doesn't speak. Doesn't stop him. Doesn't move at all. No compassion. No emotion.

_Nothing, nothing, nothing…_

Drop the woman. Skull cracks against the sidewalk. Step on her hand and her bones crunch under his heel.

Lex doesn't flinch. Eyes burning, yet empty. Razed. Set of her mouth familiar, but not her own. Expression inscrutable.

His skin crawls. Stomach cold. Take a step back. Was this acceptance or apathy? Was she this soulless?

No. Her soul dripped with guilt. He'd seen it. Felt it. Sometimes she knew nothing else.

But why not now? She was a witness. An accessory. A single word would stop him. She damn well knew it.

Look at her. Porcelain skin in the light of the rising sun. Alabaster beauty.

Why doesn't she speak?

_What are you?_

She wants him to want to stop.

Laugh. She doesn't know him after all. Just like his soulmate. Doesn't know that this is a cakewalk for him. Just a warm-up. Drop in the bucket. What he lives for. What he loves. Never want to stop. Never want…

_Lost._

Gazes locked. Game of chicken. Battle of wills.

Scent in the air. Powder and innocence.

You want to play? Let's play.

Turn away. Forge ahead. Raise the stakes. Her maker's work will seem like child's play when he was finished.

_How can I learn to let go now that you have shown that you are strong enough, but I am not…_

Then _he_ would be the one who invaded her dreams. Who had no rival. Who she couldn't shut out. Who tore through her walls as if they were tissue paper. The one she saw every time she closed her eyes.

Just like Eve.

Skin prickles. Been on this street before. Don't know when.

Little girl on the sidewalk. Dark hair. Green dress. Pearl earrings. Powder and innocence. Backpack. On her way to school so early? Dawn twilight still reigned.

Glance back at Lex. Eyebrows raised.

_And indeed there will be time to wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"_

No, no time.

Run to the girl. Seize her collar. Haul her up. Pin her against the wall. Fangs bared. Hiss just like the stereotype. Revel in her whimper of fear.

_What are you?_

Glance back at Lex. Eyebrows raised.

Cakewalk. Warm-up. Child's play.

Eyes glazing over like a door slamming shut.

Fine, then.

Turn to the girl. She whimpers again. Single tear spills down her cheek. Doesn't struggle. Utter acceptance.

_Evil._

Skin prickles. Been in this alley before. Don't know when.

Heart constricts. Pay no attention. Just get it over with. Get it done.

Lean in. Lips on her throat. Fangs graze her skin.

Has he ever killed a child before?

Do it already.

Wait.

Just wait.

Take a breath. Gather your nerve.

Already have the nerve, damn it.

Lex's gaze on him. Watching. Waiting. Silent. Here but not here.

Like his fucking soulmate.

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

Blood boiling. Release the girl. Whip around to face Lex. Rosy light from the rising sun mixes with her blue eyes. They become violet.

"Say something."

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

Stride up to her. Throw her down on the ground. Kick her in the side.

"Say something!"

_Nothing, nothing, nothing..._

Been in this alley before.

Kick her in the ribs.

Her eyes were open, crystalline violet. Porcelain skin. Alabaster beauty.

Close his eyes. Careen on his feet. See yellowish bruises around her throat. Thumbprints.

"Damn you to hell." Kick. "You asked me. You wanted to know." Kick "What did you expect me to do?" Kick. "Holier than thou, always right, always good, always sure!"

Kick, kick, kick.

Collapse next to her. Beat her with his fists. "Do you think it was easy for me? Do you? Answer me. Say something!"

She doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Dead. Dead.

_I wished your love away..._

Grasp the fabric of her shirt. Lay his head on her stomach. Scalding tear burns his eyes. Soaks into her shirt.

Dead.

_Not her, too. Not yet._

"Don't leave me. Please."

Slightest lift and fall of her chest. Fingers lacing into his hair. She sits up. Cradles his head.

"Don't leave..."

Touching his face. Lifting his chin. Brushing his cheek.

_What are you?_

Scared to look into her eyes. Can't help it. Gravity. Magnetism.

Flash.

Spark.

Explosion.

Not empty. Not apathetic. Not dead.

_Yours._

Reach up to stroke her skin. Pure satin. Thumb caresses her bottom lip. Her breath hitches.

All of her smiles, gasps, tears, moans, laughs coalesce. Contradictions and complications. Beauty, such beauty.

Sapphire and violet.

_Immerse your soul in love._

Sit up. Cup her cheek. Watch her eyes.

_You're everything she's not…_

_And vice versa._

You're everything.

Lean in. Draw her closer.

_Yours._

The edge is in sight. Close, so close.

On the brink, she stiffens. Goes rigid. Her eyes drift upward. Her breath comes faster.

Pull back slightly.

Something hard stabs into the back of his head.

Unmistakable click.

Gun being cocked.

Voice behind him. One he knows. One he scorns. "Get up."

_What are you?_

_Hellraiser._

* * *

_Yay! I got finished this in a mere two weeks! It's been a long time. I owe a HUGE thank you to CalliopeMused for her input on Aiden's section. It's difficult for me to know if my insanity makes any sense to others. And also, I would like to thank the following musicians for making the following amazing songs whose lyrics are threaded throughout Aiden's stream of consciousness. I doubt I could have written it without them.._

_Marilyn Manson - Redeemer; Cary Brothers - Something; Stabbing Westward - Red on White; Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out); Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm; Halou - Wholeness; T.S. Eliot - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (okay, not a song, but I threw a line of that poem in there); Cary Brothers - Honestly_

_And thanks to my dedicated reviews from Part 12:_

_incarnated-soul: Oh, thanks for the offer to read Aiden's section, but I already got a little help from someone else and was able to finish it.. I hope it's to your liking regardless! I need the incarnated-soul stamp of approval. Hahaha.. yes, Aiden was slowly slipping off the edge, as you can see. But it's Eve's fault, I swear. Back in D.C., yes. I was planning on getting everyone to Key West, but then I realized that it just wouldn't be right to finish this out any other place than Washington. Besides, I know the area well, so it's easier to write about it than some random place. I'm glad like Nick and Karissa. It's such a relief writing about a healthy couple after the chaos in this story. I love them both. :) Again, huge thanks to you! Mwah!_

_silver trees: Is Aiden truly happy? I think you can be the judge of that after this chapter. :) Thanks for the review!_

_Daugain: I hope you liked the fireworks. I've got more coming. :)_

_CalliopeMused: You are wonderful, wonderful! Thank you again for your help. You'll have to pick apart the rest of this chapter since Aiden's was too crazy to properly edit. :)_


	14. Full Circle

The misty rain created a nebulous veil between them as they stood across from each other in the murky dawn twilight. They had both been in this alley once before, but in many ways, he had never left. This was where he had watched his soulmate die. He hadn't been able to kill her himself, but he had stood idly by while she gave her life up to Alexandra.

Now Lex was the idle one.

"Say something!" Aiden ordered. The whites of his eyes were still tinged red from the excess of blood he had drunk and it made him look demonic as he glared at her mutinously from the other side of the alley.

She couldn't respond. Her power had drawn her so deeply into him that she hadn't been conscious of her own body for some time. Even though she had obviously followed him here, she had no memory of it. A passenger in his mind, she was only able to see through his eyes. Her only awareness of herself was through him.

But Aiden didn't realize that. He didn't understand that he couldn't win the battle of wills that he had initiated between them because she wasn't actually fighting back. No, he believed that her silence and indifference were deliberate. She had abandoned him—given up on him—and couldn't care less about what he was or what he did.

Just like his soulmate.

He advanced upon her, his long legs closing the distance between them in three quick strides. Then taking hold of her arm, he threw her onto the cold, wet pavement. His foot stabbed into her side, leaving her unable to breathe. Lex barely felt it; her senses were already overwhelmed by how he felt when he kicked her. A fire was burning in his chest even as tears burned in his eyes. He was screaming at her, his voice cracking, but he needed to be louder. He needed to hit harder.

Never enough. Why wasn't he ever enough?

As he kicked her again, she suspected that even if she were able to speak right now, he wouldn't hear her. He had clearly lost his grip on reality a few dozen kills ago and now he seemed to be trapped between the present moment and the past. Memories of his soulmate were spliced into the world around him. Lex lay at his feet and his mind reduced her to the lowest common denominators—the color of her eyes, the pallor of her face, the unyielding set of her mouth—but even those fundamental features were contaminated by Genevieve. The lips were too thin and her complexion was so pale that it seemed almost blue. But the most telling details were the sickly yellow thumbprints staining the white column of her throat and the translucent, violet eyes.

It always came back to his soulmate. So many times, he had argued that he knew that Alexandra wasn't Genevieve and yet he was still confusing them.

She should have known that his newfound stability was just an act. Thinking back on it, she _had_ known. Even from the beginning, it had struck her as odd how easily he dismissed the thought of his soulmate. He kept saying that Genevieve didn't matter, that he didn't like her, that he didn't miss her. And though Lex hadn't believed him, she let it go because she hadn't wanted to push him. Aiden respected her boundaries—even though he seemed to resent them—and she had wanted to do the same for him.

God, she was slow. Even after all the time she'd been with Reece, she still held the instinctive and erroneous conviction that painful memories should be left alone. In spite of her best intentions, she still believed that talking about your scars only served to reopen the wounds and then they might never close again. She ought to have learned by now that without talking about them, the wounds didn't close in the first place.

On some level Aiden already knew that. She remembered the steadiness of his gaze in the motel room in New York when he admitted that he had wanted to talk to her for a long time. Lex realized now that it hadn't been some line to get her into bed; he'd actually meant it. He'd come to Alexandra specifically for that.

But in the end, how much talking had they actually done?

Drained and exhausted, Aiden's balance wavered and Lex felt her power abruptly retract. As he stumbled and fell to the ground, she felt as if she were falling as well. Punted out of his mind, she crashed back into herself.

When she opened her eyes, the world was clear and quiet again. After spending so much time lost in his mind, everything outside of it felt dull. Dampened. Strangely, she almost missed the bright flashes and deafening noise. It had been harsh and grinding, but also so...vivid. The real world was so gray.

It wasn't right. Tolerating her power was one thing—she had no choice but to tolerate it if she wanted to stay sane—but to actually _enjoy_ it…she should be disgusted with herself for that. But she wasn't.

Aiden threw himself on her, his fists pounding steadily as the rain, but he was so weak now that the blows still didn't hurt. When he finally burned himself out, he laid his head on her stomach and clutched at her shirt like a frightened child.

"Don't leave me," he begged softly. "Please."

Looking down at him, Lex remembered that she had seen his face contort in pain like this once before. From the foot of his bed in the Daybreak infirmary, she had watched him fall to pieces. That night she had become the first and only person to see Aiden St. Helen cry.

Nineteen months later, it seemed like they had come full circle. He was shattering again before her very eyes and Alexandra hated herself for letting it happen. She had the power to stop this all along—the power to prevent it in the first place—but she'd been too dense to realize it. Dense and scared and selfish.

Goddamn it, Aiden should have expected that. She wasn't good at conversation. She couldn't handle intimacy. He should have found somebody else. He should have known that she would only use him, just as she had used her own soulmate.

Lex suddenly wanted to laugh at what a sad pair they made: he was a wreck without his soulmate, and without her own, she was backsliding into silence and fear. They had nothing but each other now and that would never be enough…would it?

Without pausing to contemplate her actions, Lex slid her fingers into his hair as she slowly sat up and cradled his head in her lap.

"Don't leave…" he breathed again.

Tears stung her eyes as she traced her fingers over the sharp lines of his face. So much pain there. So much loss. She couldn't help but resent Genevieve for making him hurt like this. But then, it was no more than what he had done to her. Lex knew that all too well.

Aiden lifted his eyes and there was a new sense of clarity in his gaze as he reached out to touch her. It was as if he had just woken up and he was finally seeing her for herself.

The soulmate link vibrated as his thumb brushed her lip and she was reminded of the first time he had kissed her. Who would have thought that he was capable of such excruciating tenderness? Alexandra had been the one to turn that sweet, innocent kiss into something raw and hungry and ultimately ugly. As he sat up now, though, his eyes locking on hers as he cupped her cheek, she knew that it would be different this time. It would be real.

Something in her wanted to pull back, but she found herself flowing toward him anyway. The soulmate link was pulling them together and she was as helpless against it as he was. She felt weak and a little dizzy as she tilted her face up to him. Spellbound by the depth of emotion in his gaze, she couldn't bring herself to close her eyes as he drew her closer.

Just before his lips touched hers, he hesitated for a scant second, as if he wanted to savor this moment of agonizing anticipation. In that instant, Lex was startled by a blur of movement in her peripheral vision. Her heart pounding and her stomach twisting, she looked up from Aiden to find someone standing over them, thrusting a gun against the back of the vampire's head.

Reece.

Oh god…

What was he doing here? How had he found her? Who cares! He had come for her! But that didn't change anything. She still wasn't good for him. He still deserved to be free of her. But if he was here, then he clearly didn't want to be free of her, right? But god, what about Aiden? They had been on the brink of something and Reece had witnessed the entire thing. That had to be the reason that her soulmate wouldn't look at her now. He probably couldn't stand the sight of her. Then why didn't he just walk away and let her and Aiden finish what they'd started? But was that what she wanted? Or did she want to push him aside and throw herself at Reece. The hum of the link she shared with Aiden could be nice, but could it really compare to how it felt with her real soulmate? But how could she do that to Aiden after everything she'd seen tonight and after what had nearly happened between them just now? But surely he would cast her aside if Genevieve suddenly appeared, right? She wouldn't blame him for that. Would she? God, no, she couldn't think about that. Her soulmate was standing right there and he had come all this way for her. But she still wanted him to be free of her. But if he asked her to come home, how could she say no? But if she did that, then she would only ruin him again...

But, but, but.

She was on the verge of hysteria. Her thoughts were racing, colliding with each other in one fiery crash after another.

Even though her mind was buzzing, she hadn't moved. No one had. They were like statues in the alley and Lex had the sudden image of the three of them being frozen like this while time continued to pass around them. The planet would turn, the seasons would change, the buildings would collapse and new ones would be erected in their place, but she, Reece, and Aiden would still be caught in this single moment.

Then her soulmate broke the silence and the stillness by nudging the butt of his gun against Aiden's skull. "Get up."

"Reece…" she whispered. But he didn't seem to hear her. He just glared down at Aiden with a frightening fire behind his green eyes.

"Get up," he snarled again.

Aiden looked at Alexandra with a strange smile playing on his lips. "As you wish," he replied lightly. He lifted his hands, keeping them in plain sight as he stood up. Then, he gracefully whirled around and chopped the side of his hand into the back of Reece's elbow. The blow stunned the nerves in the witch's arm and the gun fell to the ground.

Reece recovered fast. Cupping his hands, he hurled a blast of magick at Aiden that threw the vampire back against the wall so hard that the bricks crumbled behind him. While the vampire was dazed and weakened, Reece ran up to him and shoved his forearm into Aiden's throat to pin him against the wall.

Lex was too astonished by her soulmate to notice the phantom pain ringing through her body. Technically, Aiden had thrown the first strike in this fight, but Reece's fireball attack had been overkill. It wasn't like him to use his power like that.

The vampire hadn't been expecting it either. Surprise flashed in his eyes, but amusement quickly took its place. He made a choking sound that Lex assumed was meant to be a laugh. "First, do no harm?" he gasped with a smile.

"I'm a witch, not a doctor," Reece growled through gritted teeth.

"But you're a Daybreaker."

"So were you." His lip curled in disgust. "And you're as high as a fucking kite. How many people have you killed tonight, Hellraiser?"

Another choked laugh. "I lost count."

This was a dangerous argument. There was no way that Reece could understand how volatile Aiden was right now. He'd only just gained some semblance of composure; bringing up Daybreak, or Genevieve, or his rampage tonight could send him back over the edge.

Lex was momentarily relieved when Reece turned his head slightly toward her, finally acknowledging her presence. "So, this is what you left me for?" he asked in a dull voice that she barely recognized. "Everything you told Karissa about leaving for my own good was bullshit?"

Aiden's silvery eyes darted to her with interest. She hadn't really told him why she'd left Reece. She hadn't told him much of anything.

"Answer me, Lex," her soulmate ordered.

The vampire struggled in his grip, redirecting Reece's wrath away from her. "She doesn't have to answer to you."

"Shut the hell up," the witch snapped. Then he slammed the center of his forehead down into Aiden's nose for good measure. "She's not your concern."

Reece's anger seared through the soulmate link, so pure and potent that it left Lex speechless. The only other time she'd seen him like this was when he'd killed Angie Catellini. But even then, he'd tried to rein in his temper; now he was wielding it with practiced skill. This kind of rage was nothing new to him.

Is this what he had been hiding under the coldness all this time?

Someone stepped forward from the darkness behind Reece and it took a moment for Lex to recognize Nick. The last time she'd seen him, he was still bedridden, but now he was as daunting as ever as he warily approached them.

"Is that him?" he asked Reece.

"No. This is someone else altogether."

Nick threw a quick glance at Lex, who remained crouched on the ground, and then he put a firm hand on Reece's shoulder. "Then he doesn't matter. Let's just get your soulmate out of here."

"Ask her if she wants to go," Aiden croaked.

Reece increased the pressure of his arm against the vampire's throat. "Stop talking," he snarled. "Don't say another goddamn word." He shook his head bitterly. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

The vampire flashed a smile and gasped something back at Reece, but Lex couldn't hear him. Her soulmate leaned into him to bark another order, and she realized that it didn't matter what Aiden had said. His defiance alone was the bait. Taking advantage of his long reach and the witch's closeness, Aiden thrust his arm out, sucker punching Reece in the stomach. Her soulmate doubled over for a split second, but it was enough time for the vampire to snap kick him under the jaw, sending him stumbling backward into Nick.

"What makes you think you _could_ have killed me, witch?" Aiden asked, still donning that brilliant smile.

Reece calmly wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. When he looked at the vampire again, his expression had hardened into a mask of callousness. "This," he finally replied. Then he slashed his arm in a wide arc, flinging a cord of magick from his hand that cut through the air towards Aiden at lightening speed.

The vampire slipped under it at the last second and the magick crashed into the building behind him in an explosion of fire, wind, and dust.

"Not bad," Aiden told him. "But I'm still standing."

Reece's lip curled. "Not for long."

Lex's eyes moved back and forth between them as she wet her lips nervously. They were going to kill each other and considering the strength of the connection she shared with both of them, they might very well kill her in the process. Someone had to stop this.

She threw a pleading glance at Nick, but he was staring at Reece with something like irritation in his face. Now, that was strange. Normally, Nick was her soulmate's most devoted disciple; he never questioned any of his decisions or actions. She would have expected him to be backing Reece up right now, but he didn't seem to have any intention of getting involved in this fight.

It was up to her, then. She just wished she could shake the feeling that by throwing herself into this, it would only incense the both of them.

After he had circled Reece for a minute, Aiden made his move. He lunged forward and grabbed the witch's head, drawing down into his chest in a tight clinch. Once he was in control, he brought his knee up into his opponent's abdomen.

As he stepped back to drive his other knee up, Lex ran over to them. Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed Aiden's arm and attempted to pull it off of Reece, but she might as well have been tugging at a steel girder. "Aiden!" she shouted. "Stop it. Let go!"

He snapped his head up, seeming utterly stricken as his eyes searched hers. For hours, he had tried to elicit those words from her and now that she finally spoke them, she didn't know if he was hurt or relieved. He appeared to be going through some sort of struggle and when it was over, some of the madness in his eyes had dissipated. Taking a deep breath, he gave her an imperceptible nod and loosened his hold on Reece.

Her soulmate, however, wasn't ready to back down. While Aiden was distracted and still fairly close, the witch seized the opportunity to drive his fist up into vampire's jaw. The uppercut threw Aiden's head back, knocking him off balance and leaving him completely open to attack.

As the witch stepped forward to finish him off, Lex threw herself between them. "No!" she screamed, placing her hands on her soulmate's chest to hold him back. "Reece, please stop."

"Why?" he asked in a dark voice. Lowering his eyes, he looked at her directly for the first time. "Tell me why."

She opened her mouth to say something, but the words were lost as she looked into her soulmate's eyes. His pupils were so dilated that his deep, green irises were nothing more than thin rings of luminescent color around a pool of darkness. Against her will, Lex found herself being sucked into that unfathomable void.

The light paled. The colors shifted wavelengths. Her surroundings melted and mixed, the molecules reorganizing themselves to create a place that she'd never seen before.

A church.

Then there was a sudden, crushing pressure on her throat as a familiar face appeared before her. She broke into a cold sweat as his soft voice filled her mind.

_Where is she? How is she still alive?_

Alexandra wrenched her hands away from Reece as if he had scalded her, but the images did not cease. The whole scene played out before her over and over again.

Her maker's eyes on her.

Her maker chasing after her.

Her maker frozen at the doorway of the church.

_Where is she? How is she still alive?_

She stepped back from her soulmate, choking on her own breath. "What have you done?" she gasped.

Her maker's arms around her, dragging her under the surface of the sea.

Her maker suspended above her, ripping her apart.

_Where is she? How is she still alive?_

Inanely, she brought her hand to her mouth. "What have you done?"

Reece reached for her, the fire in his eyes doused by guilt. "Lex, I—"

She jerked away from him with a shriek. "Don't touch me!" Her fingers snaked into her hair, pulling at it desperately. "How could you do this to me?!"

_Don't try to escape._

Panic flooded her, galvanizing every nerve ending in her body. Her heart was pounding like a trip-hammer and her lungs couldn't keep up. With a shudder, she stumbled back and her legs gave out.

Arms caught her and she tried to scream, but the sound caught in her throat. Not even the blue fire would save her this time. It was already over.

_Stay with me, Lex_, a voice in her head pleaded. There was a soft brush of fingertips on her throat, feeling her pulse race. _Please, just breathe_.

Her maker's blood in her mouth.

Her maker shoving a knife in her gut.

Her maker's fire melting her skin.

_I will always find you._

She curled up on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs and pressing her forehead into her knees. Pinpoints of blackness pricked her vision—trillions of points that rapidly bled together to overwhelm her feeble grasp on consciousness—and she didn't fight it. Holding her breath, she focused on the darkness, trying to draw it closer. With a soft sigh, she let it wash over her.

* * *

_How could you do this to me? _

Funny. That had been _his_ question when he'd found her with Aiden, though he hadn't gotten the chance to ask it. As it happened, he was grateful for that because in retrospect, he simply had no right.

Reece felt numb as he watched her crumble Aiden's arms, and he realized that part of him had known this day would come. He'd seen the way that Aiden and Lex looked at each other in the Daybreak compound last year. There had been undeniable attraction in their subtle, half-averted glances, but far more alarming than that was the intrinstic understanding that they seemed to share—something that Reece couldn't touch. He'd always known that if the vampire ever came for Lex, there was a good chance that he would lose her.

Now, as her screams rang in his ears, reverberating to his very core, he finally understood that this entire situation was his own fault. Aiden hadn't been the one to come for Lex; Reece had driven her to him.

Still, he couldn't help feeling gratified when his soulmate wrenched out of the vampire's arms and collapsed into herself, both physically and mentally. Despite their connection, it seemed that Aiden couldn't stop her panic attack either. The second Lex's forehead hit her knees, the series of flashbacks in her mind was cut short by cold, white noise. She had disconnected herself from the world.

Reece couldn't blame her for that. He wanted to do the same thing, but he had gotten her into this mess and he was going to get her out. Someone had to protect her from Zarek and he would be damned if that someone was Aiden St.-Fucking-Helen.

He crouched down next to his soulmate and tried to slip his arm underneath her to pick her up, but Aiden's hand clamped onto his wrist like a vise. "If you lay a finger on her," the vampire warned, "I will break it off."

"I don't want to do this with you," he replied with a heavy sigh.

Aiden gave a short laugh as he thrust the witch's hand away. "Strange, because just a few minutes ago, you wanted nothing more."

That, he couldn't deny, but he was just too damn tired to fight now. He gritted his teeth. "She's _my_ soulmate. She's _my_ responsibility."

"No, she _was_ your responsibility. And you betrayed her. You gave her up to the person she fears most."

Reece felt his blood pressure spike. Aiden must have touched Lex's bare skin as she fell and that fucking fake soulmate link had told him everything. "You want to lecture me about loyalty, Hellraiser? You've betrayed everyone you've ever met."

The vampire's gray eyes glinted like cold steel. "Not her," he said huskily with a glance at Alexandra. "Never her."

"What, do you want a medal for that?" the witch asked sarcastically. "Well, you should probably wait a while before planning the award ceremony because my guess is that it's just a matter of time before you fuck her over, too."

"Oh, I've already fucked her," Aiden said with a fatuous smile. "Seven ways from Sunday, as they say."

Ironically, that claim was a wash of cool water on the burning embers in Reece's gut. Goddess, he had just assumed…He should have known…

Afraid to get his hopes up, he narrowed his eyes at the vampire, searching for any sign of exaggeration or bravado, but he found none. In fact, the look on Aiden's face was one of pure conceit—as if the vampire thought that he'd beaten him. That he'd elicited something from Lex that Reece never could. And it was that unmitigated arrogance that finally made him loose it.

Throwing back his head, he broke into laughter. Aiden's eyebrows rose in bewilderment and that just made Reece laugh harder. "You think that says something about you?" he asked when he finally caught a breath. "Or about your relationship with her? Don't you know her at all?"

The vampire scowled. "Better than you, maybe."

"Really. Let me ask you this: how quiet was she these last few days? How many times did you feel like she wasn't even there?"

When Aiden didn't answer, Reece gave him a pitiable look. "Think about her history, Hellraiser. Sex doesn't mean anything to her. It's a knee-jerk reaction to stress or fear or loneliness or boredom, don't you get that?"

"So you're saying that you don't care?" the vampire asked skeptically. "She can sleep around and you don't give a damn?"

"I'm saying," he ground out, "that if she fucked you, she was using you."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Aiden said in a muted voice. Then he looked away, blinking his eyes. "But either way, you should probably head home now. She wants nothing to do with you."

Reece tensed again as some of his jubilation faded. "I'm sure as hell not leaving her with you. You think you can protect her from Zarek? You don't even know what you're dealing with."

"And you do?" the vampire challenged.

"Yes." After nineteen months of obsessive researching and hunting, Reece felt like he knew nothing else.

He reached for his soulmate again, but Aiden blocked him, positioning himself between Reece and Lex. "You're the one who put her at risk in the first place, witch," he said icily. "I'm not going to let you take her."

Reece's patience was growing thin. "You don't have a choice."

"The hell I—"

A foot snapped between them, smashing into Aiden's temple, and the vampire slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Looking up, Reece saw Nick standing next to him. "Wooden-toed boots?" he asked.

The witch nodded. "Karissa's handy-work. And thank the Goddess, because if I had to listen to another minute of your macho pissing contest, my brain was going to liquefy."

Reece took the hand that Nick offered and got to his feet. "That statement sounds like Karissa's handy-work too," he said dryly. "She's starting to rub off on you."

"That's probably not a bad thing in this case."

"Well, you could have helped me out a little earlier."

Nick shrugged. "I got the sense that it wasn't any of my business. Besides, I wanted to see the infamous Bizzaro-Reece in action."

Reece crossed his arms over his chest, knowing there had to be more coming. "And?" he prompted wearily.

"He's slow. Rash. Inept. He doesn't protect himself. His sense of honor is severely lacking. And he has no attention to detail whatso—"

"Okay, okay," he groaned. "I'm sorry I asked."

"He's got nothing on you, Cahill," the witch said seriously. "Don't let him win like that again."

Reece was quiet for a long moment as he let his friend's words sink in. "Thanks, Nick," he replied.

The witch smiled. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Turning back to Alexandra, Reece slid one arm under the small of her back and the other under her knees and lifted her up.

As he left Aiden behind and walked out of that alley with his soulmate unconscious in his arms, he suddenly felt very peculiar. It was more than the inevitable prickle of déjà vu at the back of his neck—that, he could understand considering the circumstances. No, this was an inexplicable sense that everything he'd done over the past few days—rescuing Lindsay, revealing to Zarek that Lex was alive, being lectured by Nick, finding his soulmate with Aiden in the alley where they first met—was connected. Fated. And it was all leading somewhere, but Reece couldn't step far enough back to see the destination.

He smiled at that thought as a strange lightness expanded in his chest. Goddess help him: after months of doubt and bitter denial, Reece Cahill had finally found his faith.

* * *

_Someone was shaking him. _

"_Aiden. Wake up."_

_He really didn't want to. His head was throbbing. _

_The shaking came again, harder this time. "Aiden."_

_He forced his eyes open to see his soulmate bending over him, her small hand on his shoulder. They were in her room at the Daybreak compound and he was lost somewhere in the purple satin sheets of her bed. Sunlight beamed down on her, weaving into her light blond hair, even though they were several stories underground._

"_What?" he asked. He rubbed his face in his hands, trying to stave off the sleep that was threatening to claim him again. Why was he so tired?_

_Eve gave a soft sigh. "I was worried about you."_

"_I was just sleeping," he said, reaching his arm across his chest to lay his hand on top of hers. Her skin felt like ice._

"_But you were having a nightmare." _

"_How do you know that?" he asked. He couldn't even remember what he'd been dreaming about. _

"_I could feel it. You were angry. Sad."_

_The corner of his mouth turned up. His naive, innocent witch. He reached to run his fingers down the silky strands of her hair. They seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, like prisms. "Dreams can't hurt you," he said soothingly._

"_Yes, they can." Then a sly half-smile captured her lips. She bent her head down so that her mouth was close to his ear. In a low, conspiratorial voice, she asked, "Don't you remember that time you dreamed that I tried to kill you?"_

_He frowned as the hum of her voice shot down his spine like a cold shiver. "I never had a dream like—"_

_Quick as lightening, one of her hands clamped down on his throat and the other joined it as she pushed herself up on top of him. That cunning smile still shone brightly on her face as her grip slowly tightened. He pushed at her, but she possessed such inhuman strength that he couldn't pry her hands off of him. Her nails dug into his skin and her violet eyes glowed madly._

_He tried to say her name, but no sound came out. No air passed over his lips._

_Darkness bore down on him like a freight train and he strained to keep his eyes open. With his throat closed and his body weak, his pleading gaze was the only weapon he had against her. If she only understood how much he loved her, she would have to stop. _

_But she already knew. And with a bubbly laugh, she squeezed harder. _

Die, die, die...just one more minute, just die, please die...

_He felt death creeping over him. It started at his feet and crawled up his legs, making them tingle and finally go numb. Then it invaded his torso. His arms. His hands. His chest. His face. Just before it seized his mind, Eve suddenly vanished. _

_He rolled onto his side and coughed. He drew a few ragged breaths and coughed again, his throat burning. After a moment, he realized that he still couldn't breathe. The air flooding his lungs was acrid. Smoky._

_Getting to his feet, he found that he was still in Eve's bedroom, but the walls were gone, replaced by thick, black clouds. The room was an island, surrounded by a sea of lava, and it was engulfed by bright, roaring flames._

_There was a laugh behind him and he whipped around to find his soulmate standing where the doorway should have been. But now, in place of the door, there was an old, rickety wooden bridge that led to the shore of a lush, green forest. The sight of the tall trees and cool grass growing there made him burn with thirst._

_Eve was tall and willowy against the backdrop of the molten lava and smoke. She looked like an angel in a long, flowing white dress, but her hand rested on her cocked hip in a disturbingly provocative pose. Gone was any trace of her modesty and shyness. _

_She gave him that eerie half-smile again and drew a lighter from behind her back. Her thumb rolled over the trigger and the lighter disappeared as a small, blue flame sparked to life in the palm of her hand._

_He tried to move toward her, but a line of fire blazed up between them and he staggered back again. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "What are you doing?"_

"_I never loved you, Aiden," she replied. _

_Something inside of him broke. Tears filled his eyes, but they boiled away almost instantly in the raging heat. "You don't mean that."_

"_Oh, but I do," she said breezily. "Really, I was just using you. And now I'm tired of you, so I think it's time for me to move on."_

"_No! Don't leave me. I can't live without you, Eve."_

_She chuckled indulgently. "Don't lose that intensity, pretty one. Promise me."_

"_I don't understand," he cried, choking on smoke and cinder. "Why are you doing this to me?"_

"_I'm just doing you a favor," she replied, as if it were obvious. "I'm doing the world a favor. No one could ever love you. You're useless, Aiden, and you know it."_

_She took a small step backward onto the wooden bridge. "It's all right."_

"_Is it?" The fire was closing in on him from all sides. "Eve!"_

_Instead of answering, she threw the blue fire resting in her palm to the ground. Within seconds, it had swallowed the edge of the bridge. The flames licked her heels as she walked toward the forest on the other side, but they never touched her. When she finally set foot on the thick, green grass, the bridge had been consumed._

_Aiden was trapped. Desperately, he searched for an escape, but the fire was almost upon him. "Wait!" he shouted at her. "Help me!"_

_She smiled at him from the edge of the forest—a soft smile that was more like her own. And suddenly she seemed a little sad. Tipping her head ever so slightly to the side, she whispered, "Why do you do this to yourself?" Then she pointed to something behind him. "Turn around. Don't look back." _

_He pivoted in the direction she was pointing, lifting an arm to shield his face from the heat of the fire, but the flames were gone. Before him was an alley that seemed vaguely familiar. He felt like he'd just been here, but he couldn't say when._

_He took a step forward, the cold pavement soothing his blistered feet. Misty rain fell, creating rainbows in the sunlight, but there were no clouds above him—just the endless, deep blue sky._

_A sound startled him. A soft whimpering. "Don't leave..."_

_Looking down the alley, he saw himself lying in a girl's arms, and his memory came crashing down on him._

_Lex…_

_Aiden felt like he was both inside his body, being cradled by her, and outside of it, watching them both. Her fingers were in his hair as she touched his face, trying to comfort him. Somehow, he could feel her heart breaking for him. _

_Why did they both have to hurt so much? _

_Her eyes were over-bright, brimming with unshed tears as he sat up and drew her closer. He knew now, as he'd known then, that the moment his lips touched hers, everything would change._

_He hesitated, glancing behind him to where the fire had been, but it was gone. _

_Eve was gone. _

_When he turned back to Lex, the glimmer of longing in her eyes surprised him. She wanted this as much as he did. As he bent his head, Aiden felt a whisper brush against him like a soft breeze…_

* * *

"Don't look back," he gasped aloud as his eyes snapped open. He was still lying in the alley—beaten and hung over and utterly alone.

But not for long.

The bright sunlight felt like a spike through his brain, but the sun still wasn't overhead yet. Good. Then he'd only been unconscious for an hour or two.

Aiden stood up and started running, ignoring the way his head rattled each time his feet hit the ground. If his memory served him correctly, there was an internet cafe nearby that should be open by now. And there was bound to be some self-important metrosexual there who was just _dying_ to be relieved of his laptop.

He could feel the hum of the soulmate link connecting him to Alexandra, telling him that she was still somewhere within the city. From the flashes he'd seen in her mind before she'd collapsed, Aiden had a fairly good idea where she was, but he needed to hack into the Daybreak accounting records to be sure.

His mind was racing, planning out a strategy. He needed to get Lex's fucking hypocritical, holier-than-thou soulmate away from her, as well as that other witch who'd been with him—the quiet one who had taken the cheap shot to Aiden's temple. The simplest way to do that would be to break into the house and kill them, but that was also the riskiest. The witches were well trained and even with the element of surprise working for him, there was still a slim chance that Aiden would lose. Besides, if he killed Lex's soulmate, he wasn't sure what that would do to her, considering the state she was in now.

No. There was only one surefire way to get rid of the witches peacefully. It would take a bit of research and a fair amount of time, but that didn't matter. Aiden suddenly felt like he had all the time in the world.

* * *

This was ludicrous. For hours, he had watched them work. Spells were cast, energy was gathered, notes were taken—reams and reams of notes—but they still had not discovered anything useful. After tapping all of their resources, the witch who had cast this illicit spell remained a nameless, faceless anomaly. It was becoming abundantly clear to Zarek why these so-called Daybreakers were having such difficulty with their quest to defeat the Night World: they were completely incompetent.

The human police were no better. When no ransom call was received for Lindsay Rosen, they were at a loss. Her parents were left with nowhere to turn other than God. Their tear-soaked prayers dripped incessantly from their lips, sickening him to the point that he couldn't bear listening to them any longer.

Now as Zarek stood across from the small diner where the Daybreakers were having breakfast, he knew that they had conceded defeat as well. He could hear the eagle shapeshifter planning out in his head the report that he would write for his supervisor when they arrived back at their Circle Daybreak chapter in Burlington. The Amazon witch, Mina, was on the phone with the woman who was caring for her son, telling her that she would be home in a few hours. Apparently, even though they were no closer to identifying and locating their renegade witch, the Daybreakers believed that their work here was finished. There were bigger fish to fry, according to the shifter—or at least ones that were easier to catch.

Zarek was seething. He had wasted several hours on these imbeciles, believing that they were better equipped to find Reece than he, and now they were giving up. That was time that he could have spent searching for Alexandra, her intriguing soulmate, and his angelic little Lindsay on his own. Time that he'd had to spend longing for the three of them rather than losing himself in their screams.

It had been centuries since he had physically required human blood. When he took life now, it was always for the sheer pleasure of it. Long ago, he'd become bored by the simple act of killing; it was for this reason that he began keeping slaves in the first place. As time passed and his games with them matured and became more elaborate, Zarek never killed when he was without one any more. Today he would make an exception for the Daybreakers.

The diner was warm when he entered and the air was thick with the stench of fried food and human flesh. He would much rather wait outside for them, but he wanted to unsettle them first.

The hostess's voice caught him as he walked over to a small table in the back. "Sir, you need to wait here to be seated," she said impatiently.

Zarek lifted his hand as if gesturing for quiet, and stunned her telepathically. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and proceeded to the table.

The witch lifted her head, sensing the presence of another Night Person, and looked in his direction. Her eyes met his and he gave a small nod. She quickly turned back to the eagle shapeshifter, whispering urgently. The shifter looked over at him as well and shrugged nonchalantly at his partner.

They were both nervous, but there was nothing they could do about him now. Their principles forbade it, for one. But more than that, Zarek knew that Mina, though beautiful and certainly not lacking in Power, was so pathetic that she fainted at the sight of blood. And Hal, the shapeshifter, had a trick knee, which was why Circle Daybreak limited him to reconnaissance work. Normally, Zarek wouldn't bother killing such weak creatures, even with a slave at his side, but these two had failed him so unforgivably that he would actually enjoy watching them die.

Now he only had to wait for them to leave.

He didn't have to wait long. When their waitress dropped the check down on their table, he licked his lips in anticipation, getting ready to follow them out the door.

As the eagle shapeshifter was pulling his coat on, his cell phone rang. Curious, Zarek stole into his mind to listen to the call.

"Is this Halin Sparnasa?" a quiet, curt voice asked.

"Who's asking?" the eagle replied warily.

"You don't need to know."

"Well...what do you want?"

"It's not what I want," the voice said. "It's what you want. I believe you and your partner are searching for a particular witch who cast an illegal spell early yesterday afternoon."

Hal's head snapped up, his eyes catching Mina's. "How do you know that?"

"That doesn't really matter. What matters is that the witch you're looking for is in Washington, D.C. right now."

The pounding of his heart nearly shook Zarek's body as he watched the shapeshifter dive into his pocket for a pen and notepad. Quickly, Hal scribbled down the address that the caller gave him. Then he asked, "You got a name to go with this location?"

"Reece Cahill. You'll find him in Circle Daybreak's databases."

_Yes_, Zarek thought with a smile. That was it.

The eagle, however, was skeptical. "Wait, the guy's a Daybreaker?"

"Yes. And I'm afraid this isn't the first illegal spell that he's done. If you search carefully through the unidentified energy signatures logged in Washington's watch list, you'll find one that matches yours."

"You're lying," Hal snapped. "We already searched through Daybreak's entire watch list and we didn't get any hits."

"You would need Level Five clearance to see the signature I'm talking about. The circumstances during which the spell was cast were rather...sensitive."

The shapeshifter hesitated awkwardly. "I—uh, we only have Level Three clearance."

The caller sighed. "Then I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it."

"Why should I?" Hal demanded belligerently.

"Because you don't have any other leads and Washington is only four hours away by plane." Then the caller smiled—Zarek could hear it in his voice. "And arresting a Daybreaker for casting illegal spells of this magnitude has the potential to make your career. Think about it."

The caller hung up, leaving Hal to stare stupidly at his phone.

Zarek's hands were splayed out on the table as he listened to the shapeshifter relay the call to his partner. After a brief minute of discussion, Hal was on the phone with a travel agent, booking tickets on the next flight to Washington, D.C.

It seemed the Daybreakers had proven themselves to be useful after all.

* * *

_Dear god, I swear this chapter almost killed me, but here it is! It's a little long because I couldn't find a good place to end it, so I hope you guys don't mind. :)_

_Many of you have asked me if I know who Lex is going to end up with--Reece or Aiden. And while I don't want to give anything away, partly because I want you to keep reading, but mostly because my characters have a tendency to laugh in the face of my plans for them and do whatever the hell they want, I will say that I am a fan of happy endings. But I can't make any promises..._

_Thank you to all of you wonderful reviewers!_

_CalliopeMused: Haha, I got your hint, believe me. Thanks again for your help and your too kind words. :) I don't really think of Nick and Karissa as secondary characters any more. When I first started, I think they were, but I have grown to love them both too much. They have definitely come into their own._

_silver trees: Thanks! Fragmented was exactly what I was going for on that last part. Yeah, Aiden is nuts, but you gotta love him. :)_

_incarnated-soul: Thank you for the review. You were way to kind, as always! I am sooo glad you liked Aiden's part, because I was afraid that it would be too risky and no one would get it, but.. that was the only way I could write it._

_Darklight Shadow: Yay, welcome back! Stupid school, getting in the way of your praise for me. How dare it? P Thank you for casting it aside to write the reviews. Have I ever thought about publishing anything? Um, no. Haha, I fear rejection._

_Daugain: Yay, you understood Aiden's insanity perfectly! Hm.. maybe that's something ought to worry about, because he's pretty crazy! Thank you!_


	15. Shades of Gray

The walk back to the townhouse was long and Reece's arms were screaming by the time he carried Lex up the steps to the front door. Nick had offered to carry her for a while, but his bad leg was killing him—Reece could tell—and it just wouldn't have been right.

Lex was still out cold and she hadn't even stirred yet. The hum of the soulmate link was overwhelmed with the jarring crackle of white noise. He found himself actually avoiding the touch of her skin because the static he felt in her mind scared the hell out of him.

He'd seen her faint before. He'd seen her collapse, gasping for breath with her hand pressed to her chest as if she were having a heart attack. He'd seen her curled in a tight ball of limbs and spiral curls, unwilling or unable to respond to him. But those other times, he had at least been able to sense the churning of her thoughts or feel the presence of her soul like a glowing beacon for his own.

Now he felt nothing.

Nick held the door open for Reece as they quietly entered the townhouse. "Where do you want to put her?"

The master bedroom was the obvious choice, but he didn't want to be with her in the room she had once shared with someone else. That would provoke too many thoughts that he just couldn't deal with right now. "I think there's a bedroom down that hall," he replied with a nod to his left.

Karissa poked her head out of the kitchen as they were crossing the living room. "Hey, guys, did you find—" she started. Then her eyes widened when she saw that Reece was carrying Lex, and she rushed into the room. "Oh god, what happened?"

Instead of answering, he asked in a low voice, "Where's Lindsay?"

"She's in the den," she replied. "Watching a movie."

Damn. The doorway to the bedroom was just past the den. "Could you go distract her?" he asked Karissa. "I don't want her to see Lex."

The human girl seemed almost defensive on Alexandra's behalf. "Why not?"

"One, because she's unconscious and I don't want to have to answer any questions about it. Two, because I'm really not up to explaining why it seems like I'm dating a thirteen year-old girl."

"You could just tell her the truth," she insisted. "Lindsay's not stupid, you know. She's going to wonder—"

"Kar," Nick interjected, "would you give him a break and just do what he asked?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Now _you're_ the one telling _me_ to give him a break?" Her eyes darted back and forth between them. "Someone had better start explaining what the hell happened out there."

"I'll tell you later," Reece swore. "But for now, would you please go?"

She pursed her lips at him and then rolled her eyes. "Fine," she grumbled.

Reece and Nick walked just behind Karissa as she stomped down the hall and they paused at the doorway when she turned into the den. After a few moments, her cheerful voice rang out as she engaged Lindsay in a conversation about the movie, and the witches hurried silently into the back bedroom.

The room was small and dusty, as if it hadn't been used in years, but at least the twin-size bed was made. Reece gently laid his soulmate on the tan comforter and then he kneeled down on the floor next to the bed so that he was eye-level with her.

For the first time since he'd found her in the alley, he let himself look her over. She was a little too pale and a little too thin, which was troubling because it reminded him of how she looked when they met. Back then, she never ate enough food or drank enough blood. It had been a constant battle to get her to take care of herself. Over the last year she had made a lot of progress, but now it seemed like she'd given up on all of that. And what really bothered him was that such a drastic change in her couldn't have happened in the few days since he'd last seen her; she had to have been backsliding long before that and he just hadn't bothered to notice.

"Do you want to try to wake her up?" Nick asked.

Reece started at the sound of his friend's voice. Christ, he'd forgotten that the witch was even there. "No. I don't think it would be good for her right now. She'll wake up on her own, once she feels safe enough," he replied with more confidence than he felt.

With a weary sigh, he straightened up. "Right now, I just want to concentrate on getting us the hell out of this city."

Slipping his cell phone out of his back pocket, he dialed Thierry's direct line.

"Did you find Alexandra?" the vampire asked without preamble when he answered the phone. "Is she all right?"

"Yeah. She's safe," Reece said, choosing his words carefully. Thierry didn't need to know all of the sordid details.

"Good. That's a relief. Did she tell you why she had to use the blue fire? Anton is probably going to want to know."

Guilt knotted in Reece's stomach. He'd been too livid when he found her to even think of that question. But if he didn't give Thierry an answer, the vampire was bound to be suspicious. He was going to have to make up something…

_Aiden_, his mind whispered. _Give him Aiden._

It was a believable and understandable reason to unleash blue fire, and Anton Parish would be only too happy to know that Hellraiser was in his fair city right now. He would have every Daybreaker in a fifty-mile radius hunting the vampire down and in a matter of hours the problem of Aiden St. Helen could be eliminated from Reece's life.

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but when he opened his mouth, he uttered, "It was an unconscious release. She has nightmares." As soon as he said it, he realized that that was likely the real reason anyway. A few times back in Montreal, Reece had caught her on the verge of conjuring the fire in her sleep, but he'd woken her with a jolt of magick before the power escaped. Aiden wouldn't have been able to do that.

"I see," Thierry replied. "You know, there are spells that would help with that. Perhaps you ought to look into it."

Reece didn't want to get into that now. "Yes, sir. I will. But listen, now that I have Lex, I really want to get her back home to Montreal. Could you arrange another charter flight for us?"

The vampire's brief hesitation felt like a noose around Reece's neck. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to get another flight for you until…" There was the sound of pages being flipped furiously. "Late tomorrow night or the morning after."

"Shit."

"You could take a regular flight out and I'll see to it that you get reimbursed for the cost," Thierry offered. "Just send me a copy of the bill when you get back, all right?"

"Yeah, okay," he said noncommittally. Goddess knows that he couldn't care less about the cost.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

_Aiden_, his mind hissed again. Still, he couldn't bring himself to say it. "No, thank you."

After he had snapped his cell phone shut, Reece turned to Nick. "Looks like we're going to have to wake Lex up after all."

"Why?"

"We can't get a private plane for two days and trying to load an unconscious girl on a public flight is going to draw way too much attention."

"We could just wait," Nick suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Not with Aiden in the city. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Why don't you let the Daybreakers know that he's here? Then he'll be too busy running to bother us."

"Because," Reece explained to Nick as well as the voice in his own head, "they might catch him."

His friend cocked a brow at him. "And…that's a bad thing?"

"Maybe. They'll want him alive for information and if he's not willing to talk, they'll probably torture him. Lex would feel it and that is only going to make her worse."

It was a good reason, but Reece knew that it wasn't the real one. In truth, he was afraid that if he turned Aiden in, his soulmate would never forgive him for it.

"Torture?" Nick repeated in disbelief. "But they're Daybreakers. That would go against everything that—"

"I told you," Reece interrupted. "Things are different down here. Lex and I found out the hard way that Daybreak will do whatever is necessary to win this war."

The witch's hazel eyes were smoldering. "I don't understand. We're supposed to be _about_ something. We're supposed to show the world that diplomacy and amnesty and mercy can work."

"Sometimes they _do_ work, but sometimes they don't. You met Aiden St. Helen. Do you really think someone like that can be reasoned with? And if he has information that could mean life or death to millions of people, what do you expect Daybreak to do?"

Nick seemed defeated. "Then why are we still with them if they're no better than the enemy? What the hell is the point?"

Reece was quiet for a long moment as he fixed his gaze on the floor. "I had a lynx shifter on my team during the D.C. mission," he said softly. "Sumitra. She was hurt pretty badly, helping me break Genevieve out of the compound, and there was no time to heal her. When we reached the entrance to the evacuation tunnel, I needed to cast a difficult spell to open the door, but I didn't have enough power. Sumitra told me to use her." He looked up at Nick, his throat tight with grief. "We both knew that it would kill her."

"Goddess," the witch whispered with a slight shake of his head. "I'm sorry, Cahill. I didn't know."

"Well, what I learned from that mission is that things are never black and white. There are shades of gray and…darker shades of gray." He lifted one shoulder in a weary shrug. "Circle Daybreak may be forced to go against their principles from time to time, but at least they don't get off on it. They just see it as a means to an end."

"I don't like it," Nick said.

"Neither do I. It probably sounds terrible, but not a day goes by that I don't thank the gods that it was Sumitra with me in the compound instead of Beth. Or anyone else from our team, for that matter." It wasn't a question of whether or not he would have done what was necessary—he knew that he would have—it was more a question of how he would have lived with himself afterwards.

A sad silence fell between them and Reece suddenly regretted telling Nick any of this. The witch's idealism was such a rare and precious thing these days and it seemed wrong trounce on it with the cold, harsh truth.

"I was royally pissed at you," Nick admitted. "When you showed up at my door the other night, on the verge of keeling over from casting an illegal spell, telling me that you gave up on the team and everything you believed in, all for the sake of revenge…"

"You were disappointed in me," Reece finished for him. "I know."

He nodded. "Yes. I just couldn't understand why you'd done it. How you could have changed so much. Why I hadn't seen it. But I think I'm starting to get it now. And…I'm sorry that I've given you such a hard time."

"I'm not," Reece insisted. Of course, there was so much more that he wanted to say, if he could only find the words. But then Nick smiled and he realized that his friend already understood.

The witch let out a slow breath. "So, what kind of spell did you want to try?" he asked with a nod toward Alexandra.

"We should start with something mild," Reece replied thoughtfully. "If we jolt her too hard, she'll be in worse shape when she wakes up than she is now."

"Okay, then. Let's get to work."

* * *

The pale light of the winter afternoon had come and gone. Lindsay had watched the shadows of the furniture swing across the floor throughout the day, only to be swallowed up by the dusk. She was supposed to be watching TV, but she couldn't focus on it. She crossed and uncrossed her legs and kicked her foot restlessly, possessed by nervous energy.

Something strange was going on. Lindsay could feel it, even though Karissa kept denying it with a bright smile—one that reminded her of how her parents had smiled at her after that Zarek guy had cut off her hair.

She hadn't seen Reece at all since he'd come back to the house with his girlfriend. The two of them were shut up in the bedroom next door with Nick, and Lindsay wasn't allowed inside. Everyone once in a while, Nick would come out of the room, looking tired and frustrated as he murmured something softly in Karissa's ear. Twice already, he'd left the house "on an errand" and had returned with a heavy shopping bag in his hand. Then he had wordlessly headed straight into the bedroom again.

What was going on in there? Was Reece's girlfriend sick? If she was, why were they trying to hide it? And if it was as bad as it seemed, why didn't they take her to a hospital?

Butterflies were fluttering in Lindsay's stomach. As she sat on the couch in the den pretending to watch cartoons, she started to wonder just how much she knew about the people she was with. They all seemed nice enough, but her father said that sometimes appearances were deceiving. The Bible was full of stories of how evil could look beautiful on the surface. So was the six o'clock news.

She tried to stay calm. She tried to tell herself that she'd already seen pure evil and Reece and his friends were nothing like that. But just because they weren't as bad as Zarek didn't mean that they were good either.

What if they were all…criminals or something?

No, that was stupid. She trusted Reece. She really did. He'd been nothing but protective of her since he'd pulled her out of that church. He wouldn't let anything happen to her.

But why hadn't he even come to say hi to her since he got back? She thought that they were friends. He was one of the few people she knew who didn't treat her like some ignorant little kid. And he never seemed to care that she was so young; he liked having her around anyways.

Or, at least that's what she had thought. Maybe this whole time, he was just—just humoring her like that policeman had back at home. Maybe they all were. After all, they were obviously trying to keep something from her. With each minute that Reece stayed locked in the bedroom, each mysterious shopping bag that Nick brought back to him, and each time that Karissa slipped inside the room and came back out looking dazed, Lindsay became more and more anxious.

There was something very wrong happening here.

What if they were doing drugs back there? She'd seen something on the news once about the police arresting the leader of a drug ring and she _had_ heard both Nick and Karissa call Reece their leader. And there was a weird smell coming from that room—something like stale incense.

She stole a glance at Karissa, who was sitting on the other end of the couch. She didn't look high. Then again, Lindsay had never been around anyone who was on drugs before, so she didn't really know what to look for.

Karissa turned her head, catching Lindsay in the act of watching her. "What's up, _chica_?" she asked. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"That's the third 'nothing' I've gotten from you in the last hour. And I'm still not buying it."

"You said it a couple of times, too," she said as the blood rushed into her face, "after I asked you what was going on. You're not telling the truth either."

"You got me there," Karissa said with a smile. "Anyone ever tell you that you are too perceptive for your own good?" Then the smile faded as she gave her a patient look. "I know that you've got a lot of questions, hon. I'd answer them if I could."

"Why can't you?"

She bit her bottom lip. "It's...complicated."

The word stung as badly now as it had when Reece had said it to her in the car the day before. And it unsettled her too because of how nervous Karissa seemed.

The older girl abruptly stood up. "Hey, why don't I try to scrounge up some dinner, okay? You must be starving and I'm sure the boys are, too."

"Do you think Reece will eat with us?" Lindsay couldn't help asking. If he really was the leader of the group, then it was probably his decision to keep her in the dark. Once he actually came out of that room and remembered that she was even here, maybe she could get him to tell her what was going on.

"Uhhh." Karissa bit her lip again. "You know, I'll just go ask him. Wait right here, okay?"

Lindsay watched her hastily walk out of the room and into the hallway. But before she could knock on the door to the Forbidden Bedroom, a deep _ding-dong_ rang throughout the house.

Karissa frowned as she pivoted in place and headed toward the front door. A few minutes later, she called out, "Nick! Reece! Get out here now!"

Holding her breath, Lindsay saw Nick emerge from the bedroom first, followed by Reece, who pulled the door shut behind him. They both looked downright awful as they trudged by the den and neither of them seemed to notice that she was there.

This was her chance. She couldn't just sit here any longer with these strange people who wouldn't tell her anything, who wouldn't let her call her parents, and who didn't plan on letting her go home any time soon. If they were doing drugs or anything illegal back there, then she wasn't safe with them and she had a right to know that.

Lindsay used that thought to give her the courage to creep out into the hallway. She could hear Karissa and the others arguing with someone, but they were speaking too softly for her to make out the words. All that mattered, though, was that they were too busy to see her sneaking into the bedroom. Licking her dry lips, she quietly pushed the door open a crack and squeezed inside.

The room was hazy with smoke. That stale incense smell was thick in the air, making it hard for her to breathe as she looked around. Her heart was pounding and it was from more than just the fear of being caught or the fear of what she would find; there was something disturbing about the room itself. Just standing there made her feel like she was full of electricity. If she passed a mirror, she wouldn't have been surprised to see her hair standing on end.

The curtains had been drawn shut so that the room was lit only by the dim glow of a candle that sat on the small table. Plastic baggies of what looked like tea leaves and dried flowers were scattered over the table and there was a small ceramic bowl full of crushed leaves teetering on the edge.

Lindsay leaned down to push the bowl back so that it rested fully on the table. Then, as if compelled, she grabbed a pinchful of the crushed leaves and sniffed it warily. Puzzled by the smell, she took a small taste.

A giggle bubbled up inside of her. It was just lemongrass! Her mom sometimes used it when she was making chicken for dinner—just to shake things up, she said. Oh God, Lindsay couldn't believe she had been so worried about this. She should have known that Reece would never—

Her relief was cut short as her gaze fell on the twin bed that was situated in the far corner of the room. There was a girl lying there who wasn't much older than her. An eight-grader, maybe ninth. She seemed to be asleep, but there was blood trickling from her lips onto the pillowcase.

There was no girlfriend, Lindsay realized. There never had been.

But why would they lie about that? Why would they want to keep Lindsay from finding out about this girl?

There was only one explanation: they had kidnapped this girl. They had kidnapped the both of them. They had been friendly to Lindsay this entire time just to keep her at ease so that she would do what they said. Maybe this other girl hadn't been so cooperative, so they had knocked her out and put her here.

Tears burned in her eyes and she had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Reece had lied to her. Reece had been using her. Reece had taken her away from her home, had used her fear against her, had tricked her into liking him just to get money from her parents. He had never liked her. He probably thought it was hysterical how stupid she was.

What would he do to her if he found her in here? If he knew that she had figured out his secret? Maybe he didn't want to hurt her, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't.

_God, please help me. Please…_

She scrambled back and came up against the door. She was about to throw it open and run out of there, but she stopped.

This was a test. This had to be a test. She was scared and that was fine. It was okay to be afraid—it was smart to be, sometimes, but she still had to do the right thing. God wouldn't want her to leave that other girl in here.

Lindsay went back to the bed and shook the girl hard. "Hey," she whispered. "You have to wake up!"

The girl didn't respond.

Lindsay tried not to panic, but her hands were trembling as she shook the girl so hard that the bed creaked. "Come on, come on. We have to get away."

Still, nothing.

She wanted to cry. She bit her lip like Karissa so often did. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. You stay here. I'll go get help and come back for you."

As quietly as she had come in, Lindsay slipped out of the bedroom. She tiptoed down the hallway, carefully making her way towards the kitchen, where she knew there was a back door. Each tiny step also brought her closer to the living room, where her captors were arguing heatedly with someone. By the time she had reached the entrance of the kitchen, she could clearly hear Reece's angry voice.

She tried not to listen. She didn't _want_ to listen. She just wanted to get out of there, to save herself and that girl in the bedroom. But just as her hand was closing on the knob of the back door, one word pierced her consciousness.

_Witch_.

Lindsay froze in fear as visions of the orange fireballs that Reece had thrown in the church flashed before her eyes.

"Is that how you get your kicks?" demanded a voice that she didn't recognize. "Slowly, painfully disintegrating innocent people into dust? Did you like hearing the person scream?"

Realization crashed down around her. Reece _had_ kidnapped her, but not for ransom money. He was a witch—a servant of Satan. She probably couldn't even imagine the things that he'd had planned for her.

In blind terror, Lindsay ran out the back door. Her feet slipped on the wet cement and she fell down the steps, skinning her knees as she landed in the narrow path behind the house. Ignoring the pain, she got back up and ran as fast as she could toward the street.

* * *

Karissa opened the front door to find a tall, curvaceous woman and a gangly man with a hooked nose standing on the steps. "Can I help you?" she asked them.

"Is there a Reece Cahill here?" the man asked.

She looked him over for a minute, feeling somewhat intimidated by his golden eyes in spite of herself. You'd think after being with Nick for two years, she would be immune so such a subtle attack, but there was something untamed about his eyes that made her uneasy. While Nick's stare was icy and controlled, this man's was full of a certain recklessness that was barely held in check. His mouth was twisted into a sneer that seemed as natural on his face as his five o'clock shadow. And she could tell that he was a shifter, but she couldn't discern which kind.

The woman next to him, with the long, lustrous brown hair, was obviously a witch. She radiated power and wisdom—the yin to her partner's yang. They must have been working together for some time because she seemed unconcerned by the shifter's edginess.

"Are you from Daybreak?" Karissa asked, though she already knew the answer. Witches and shifters did not tolerate each other well in the Night World, in spite of the alliance that had been made a few years ago.

"Yes," the witch answered. "I'm Mina Whitehall and this is Halin Sparnasa."

"Did Anton send you?"

Mina and her partner exchanged glances. "No. We're from the Burlington office in Vermont."

Uh, oh. Not good. Not good.

And worse yet, the witch must have caught some change in Karissa's expression. "You know why we're here," Mina noted.

Ugh. Why did she have to be such a terrible liar? Why? Goddamn, she couldn't even lie well enough to keep a ten year-old from seeing right through her. It just wasn't fair.

"He had good reason," Karissa blurted out.

The shifter snorted. "That's really not for you to decide."

"Fine. Call up Thierry Descouedres. I'm pretty sure he would agree with me."

She probably shouldn't have said that. Dropping Thierry's name gave too much away about Reece's status; the leader of Circle Daybreak wouldn't intervene on a matter like this for just anyone. You had to be someone of great importance—or the protector of someone of great importance.

Luckily, the Daybreakers didn't take her suggestion seriously. "Yeah, we'll do that," Hal said sarcastically. "In the meantime, why don't you let us in? Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

Karissa was tempted to slam her fist into the shifter's crooked nose. She could take him down, easy. The witch, too, if she moved fast enough.

Hal must have sensed her growing hostility because he narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't get any ideas. We brought back-up." He took a small step to the side, and belatedly Karissa noticed the three burly vampires who were standing on the sidewalk behind the Daybreakers.

"What's the matter?" she asked dryly. "Too scared to come down here and face us on your own?"

"Too smart," he replied. "We did our homework, Miss Gigena." A smug smile spread on his face.

"Oh goodness," Karissa said flatly. "You know my name. Am I supposed to be impressed that you can read a file and spot a human when you see her?"

His nostrils flared. "I would be worried, if I were you. Clearly, you know about the illegal spells your leader cast, so that makes you an accessory."

Mina gave the shifter a quelling look, which he returned with a sneer. She just smiled gently at him for another moment and Hal threw his hands up, as if he was sickened by all of them.

"You'll have to forgive him," the witch said to Karissa. "He tends to get a little rash."

"Then tell him to call his anger management sponsor instead of trying to start something with me."

"We're not trying to start anything," Mina said amiably. "We're just doing our job. So could you please let us in?"

Karissa was at a loss. She couldn't fight her way out of this and she didn't want to get Reece into any more trouble than he already was. Besides, if this was as bad for him as it seemed, he probably _could_ call Thierry. It would raise people's suspicions, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

Begrudgingly, she stepped back from the door and the Daybreakers followed her inside. The three vampires positioned themselves side-by-side in the doorway, effectively blocking off the exit for Karissa, but of course they would stand aside if the witch or shifter needed it.

"So, where is he?" Hal demanded. His eyes searched the living room as if he was expecting Reece to be hiding behind the furniture.

"Nick! Reece! Get out here now!" Karissa shouted so loudly that her own ears rang. She had the satisfaction of seeing the vampires at the door wince, but unfortunately the shifter didn't. Guess he wasn't an animal that had a heightened sense of hearing.

Nick came into the room first, looking completely ghastly. His complexion was pasty, there were dark rings under his eyes, and he moved so sluggishly that she worried he was about to keel over. Reece, of course, looked no better. For hours, they had been pouring all of their power into spells to try to wake Lex up, but the girl just wouldn't come around. They had tried incantations, crystals, and herbs. They had even tried to make her drink a blood bag, thinking that she might just be too weak to wake. None of it had worked.

In one of the brief moments Karissa had dared to leave Lindsay in order to slip into the back bedroom, Nick had told her that he'd never seen anything like this before. He hadn't wanted to say it, but she knew that he was afraid that Lex was just beyond their reach and she might never wake up. Reece refused to believe that, though. He refused to give up. And he was running the both of them into the ground.

He eyed the Daybreakers. "What do you want? No one has reserved this space for the next week. I checked the logs."

"They're not from D.C.," Karissa told him softly. "They're from Vermont."

"Ah, fuck," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair.

"Ah, fuck, indeed," Hal said snidely. His assessing gaze moved over Reece's wan face. "You've been casting more illegal spells, I see."

"No. We've been casting a fuck-ton of legal ones, actually."

"So you don't deny—"

Mina stepped forward and put her hand out in front of her partner. "Would you mind casting one for us now?" she asked Reece politely.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why? Don't you have enough evidence to convict me already?"

The Daybreakers hesitated, exchanging another look.

"You don't, do you?" Reece remarked. "You need me to give you an energy signature."

"How did you get his name, then?" Karissa asked suspiciously.

"We received an anonymous tip," Mina replied.

"A tip," she repeated. "You came all the way down here because of a tip?"

"The guy told us the sig from Vermont would match an unidentified sig from the D.C. compound's records, and it does," the shifter said defensively. "We had every reason to believe he was right about this as well."

Anger flared in Reece's eyes. "Those records are classified."

"Our supervisor's supervisor has the proper clearance," Mina said. "She compared the signatures for us."

"That's two illegal spells we can pin on you, witch," Hal spat fervently. "And that first one…" He whistled and shook his head. "Man, that was impressive. Is that how you get your kicks? Slowly, painfully disintegrating innocent people into dust? Did you like hearing the person scream?"

It was a loaded question. If Reece said yes or no, it wouldn't matter because he would still be admitting that he'd done the spell. Thankfully, he was smart enough not to rise to it.

"Who did you do it on?" the shifter pressed heatedly. "Some innocent little kid on her way home from school? Some beautiful woman who wouldn't touch the likes of you, so you just had to put her in her place?"

Reece just smiled. "I don't think you have anything on me."

"We will as soon as Mina feels out the energy signature from the 'fuck-ton of legal spells' you were casting here."

"You have no just cause for doing that and we both know it."

"We're not the human police," Hal snarled. "We don't need just cause. We don't need a warrant. We're Circle Daybreak and you're nothing but a sick, pathetic excuse for a witch.

"Now," the shifter continued, "if you cooperate with us, maybe they'll let you out of the Daybreak prison before you're too old to get it up any more."

"Hal." Mina touched his arm again. "Let's all just stay calm here."

Reece laughed loudly. "You two been working on this good cop/bad cop routine long?"

"Yeah, you'd better get your laughs in now, witch," the shifter growled, "because as soon as we haul you out of here and drag your ass back to Vermont, I don't think you'll be laughing again for a very long time."

Karissa looked around the room as Reece and Hal stared each other down and she weighed their odds. Five to three wasn't too bad…

Of course, the three vampires at the door were freaking gargantuan…

Six to three.

And Nick and Reece were practically dead on their feet already…

Six to two. Still doable.

Then Karissa glanced at Nick, and seeing his closed-off expression, she knew that they wouldn't be able to count on him after all. His allegiance to his leader was deep-rooted, sure, but his allegiance to Circle Daybreak would always come first and Reece _had_ broken their laws. He might not help these Daybreakers arrest Reece, but neither would he stand in their way. It was times like this that she would really hate Nick if she didn't love him so damn much.

So that brought their odds down to six to one and a half, at best.

Crap.

Karissa could picture exactly how this would play out. Reece would refuse to let the Daybreakers down the hall and Nick would stand aside. Two of the vampires and probably the shifter would go after Reece, leaving one of the vampires and the witch to restrain Karissa. She would start fighting the vamp and while she was distracted, the witch would cast some weird-ass spell on her to get her out of the picture. Meanwhile, the shifter and the other two vampires would take Reece down. The witch would go down the hall, feel out the energy signature, and then the Daybreakers would have enough evidence to arrest Reece. And, of course, they would take Karissa and Nick into custody as well because they were accessories to the crime, which left Lex and Lindsay with no one to protect them from Zarek.

She had to stop that from happening.

"He has a soulmate," Karissa cried out, breaking the heated silence. All eyes in the room fell on her. She could feel the weight of Reece's gaze, ordering her to shut the hell up about Lex, but she knew that trying to reach the Daybreakers' sense of decency was their only shot at getting out of this. "And she sick, okay? Really, really sick. She needs him right now. If you take him away, she'll probably die." That, at least, was true enough. "She doesn't deserve that."

Hal wrinkled his nose. "He should have thought of that before he started casting illegal spells," he replied coldly. "Now, are you going to let us by, witch?"

"No," Reece replied.

The shifter crooked his finger at the vampires in the doorway and, as Karissa had expected, two of them stepped forward.

Fine. Screw decency. If that's the way they wanted it, at least she and Reece would give them one hell of a fight. She wouldn't let this go down the way these Daybreakers wanted it to.

Karissa started to lunge at the shifter, but Nick beat her to the punch. Shocked, she halted mid-motion as he drove his fist into Hal's face. He followed the blow with a hard switch kick to the left leg and the shifter toppled to the ground.

Reece was as stunned as she was. "Nick, what the hell are you doing?"

"Crossing over to the Dark Gray Side." He paused to throw a foot jab at one of the vampires to push him back. "Karissa and I will hold them back. Just take Lex and Lindsay and run."

"I can't just—"

"Don't argue, just go!"

As Reece sprinted down the hall, Karissa side-kicked Mina in the ribs. And thank god, the witch fell a lot easier than she'd expected.

One of the vampires came at her next and she used his motion and his weight against him, grabbing him around the waist and throwing him over her hip onto the floor. Nick came up behind her and they stood with their backs to each other while the vampires and the shifter—who was limping slightly, but was apparently pissed off enough to keep fighting anyway—began to circle them.

The next few minutes were a blur of punches, kicks, throws, and grunts. The vampires were as tough as she'd anticipated, but the shifter was weaker. In fact, after she easily slipped and blocked the few shots he took at her, she was pretty sure that he didn't have any formal training. He was all anger, no focus.

Karissa grinned. "Baby, do you think they have conjugal visits in a Daybreak prison?" she asked.

She felt Nick move against her as he threw a punch at one of their opponents. "I don't know. I don't see why not."

"Good." She kneed a vampire in the stomach and then kicked him in the head. "Because I am going to ravage you when we get there."

"Be careful, Kar," her boyfriend warned breathlessly. "I'm going to hold you to that."

In the corner of her eye, Karissa saw Mina use the couch to pull herself back up to her feet and she knew that it was all over. Nick's power was drained and with the others circling them, there was no way that either one of them would be able to take the witch down before she threw some kind of magick at them.

Even so, Karissa couldn't bring herself to care. Her heart was just too full. She reached behind her to squeeze Nick's hand. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too." She could hear the smile in his voice as he said that and she knew that he was as proud of himself for choosing to stand up for Reece as she was.

She just hoped that they had given Reece enough time to get away from here.

* * *

_Yay, so nice to have parts that aren't excruciating to write. :)_

_Thank you to my readers and reviewers._

_incarnated-soul: Too kind, I tell you! Let's see...how long does it take me to write a chapter? Well, I used to be able to do one a week back at my less demanding job. But I kept my chapters shorter back then. Basically, as soon as I'm done with it, you guys get it. Hahahahahaha.. no, I am not lucky enough to have any chapter come out well the first time through. My writing process is the following: sit at desk, type, backspace, type, type, type, backspace, backspace, DELETE, slam forehead on desk, type, curse characters, scream, type, type, type, this sucks, this sucks, backspace, cry, whine, type, type, type, edit, and voila!_

_Anyhow! I'm sorry if the beginning of the last chapter was confusing.. I realized as I started writing, that I needed to show that moment between Lex and Aiden from her point of view because Aiden was just too messed up at the time to really appreciate what was happening between them. Glad you like Reece's reaction when Aiden told him that he'd been with Lex.. that's really the only way he could have reacted. He knows that Lex has a lot of bad coping mechanisms.. he was just relieved in the end that she hadn't fallen for Aiden and hadn't left him specifically to be with Aiden, which was what he had initially thought._

_Daugain: Mwah! Thanks for the review. :) Haha, don't blame Aiden. He didn't know Zarek was there. Yes, Reece and Lex certainly do have a lot to talk about.. I swear I'll get there eventually._


	16. Free Will

The battle raged on in the living room as Reece burst into the back bedroom. As quickly as he could, he hauled Lex's body up from the bed and threw her over his shoulder. He felt somewhat guilty for carrying her in such an uncomfortable position—his shoulder was surely stabbing into her stomach—but he wouldn't be able to run with her any other way. Besides, if her mind was locked tightly enough to withstand all of the magick that had been poured into her over the past few hours, he didn't think that she would even feel this.

Dread unfurled inside of him at that thought, but he pushed it away. He didn't have time for that now; Nick and Karissa wouldn't be able to hold off the Daybreakers for much longer and he needed to get as far away as possible.

With his soulmate in his possession, he left the bedroom and rushed into the den. "Lindsay. Come on, we have to—"

The room was empty.

He hurried across the hall into the bathroom, but it was empty as well. Throwing open the linen closet, he found nothing but towels and sheets. She couldn't have gone upstairs because she would have had to push through the fight in the living room to get to the staircase, so that meant that she had to be in the kitchen.

But she wasn't there either. Reece looked under the table and in the pantry and just when he was frustrated enough to rip his hair out, he noticed that the back door was ajar: she had run out.

Oh, fuck. Why would she have done that? It wasn't safe and she knew it. Even if there wasn't an evil, masochistic vampire after her, it wasn't safe for a girl her age to be out at night.

Reece ran out the door and turned into the narrow pathway that lay between the row of townhouses on this street and the row that faced the street above it. Pumping one arm to propel him forward, he used the other to steady Lex on his shoulder. "Lindsay!" he shouted frantically. "Lindsay!"

She couldn't have gotten far. She only had a few minutes head start and he was much faster than she. If only he hadn't used up so much power trying to wake up Lex, he could use a spell to find her.

As he closed in on the end of the path, the shadows moved. From the edge of the house that stood on the corner, they shifted and flowed, taking shape as they slid out into the soft moonlight. An icy wave of terror stole over him and he nearly tripped over himself as he skidded to a stop. Staring at the pale face of the dark-eyed vampire standing before him, something inside of him instinctively recoiled.

Zarek smiled, his eyes moving from Reece's face to Alexandra's limp body. Then he gave a small, relieved sigh that seemed to say, _At long last._

Goddess, no. He couldn't let this creature back into Lex's mind. Frantically, he adjusted his hold on her, sliding her body down so that she lay in his arms like a child and he tried to summon enough power to cast the cloaking spell.

"I wouldn't bother," Zarek said softly. "She's not there. Her mind is nothing but cold static. You know that as well as I."

His own mental block—the one he had conjured at the church in Vermont—must have dissolved, most likely when he burned himself out with the time-altering spell. Rather than letting it frighten him, he used the realization to beat back the despair that was welling up inside of him. The vampire was just fucking with him, playing on his fears and weaknesses. It was Zarek's modus operandi and Reece couldn't let it affect him. The vampire couldn't possibly know if Alexandra would ever wake or not.

"Ah, but I do," Zarek insisted. "I have access to parts of her mind that even your precious soulmate link cannot grant—when she allows you to use it, that is. And I can promise you, witch, that there is nothing left of her." He let his smile broaden. "A pity, that. I wonder how such a thing could have happened."

"Then you have no use for her," the witch said tightly, shrugging off the guilt that the vampire was trying to incite.

"No, I suppose not. Especially when I have this." He reached behind him and pulled someone out of the shadows. "I believe you two are acquainted."

The little girl stood between the witch and the vampire, her eyes wide with fear. Tears streamed down her face as she shivered in the cold, but she didn't make a sound.

"Lindsay," Reece gasped.

"And you swore that I would never get near her," Zarek said chidingly. "You should never make promises that you can't keep."

"Let her go."

"I must say that the spell you cast on her is quite effective," the vampire continued heedlessly. "But I think we both know that you cannot sustain it indefinitely."

The witch gritted his teeth. So much for keeping Lindsay from knowing about the Night World. Searching the girl's face, he expected to find shock or confusion, but he only saw loathing and fear. She had already known, he realized. It was why she had run from the house.

He took a step towards her and she cringed. "Lindsay, I—"

"I wouldn't bother," Zarek said again. "God is very clear on this matter, isn't He, Lindsay? Witches are minions of Satan. Evil made flesh."

Reece looked up and met the vampire's black eyes. "So what does that make you?" he seethed.

"I thought that after all of your research, you would have figured it out." He inclined his head slightly, as if taking a bow. "I am an artist."

That he was. Zarek had turned the destruction of an innocent soul into an art form and he was going to make Lindsay his next masterpiece. But Reece would be damned if he was going to let that happen.

Clenching his fists, he opened his mouth to speak, but the vampire cut him off again, "Please, let us forgo the empty, graphic threats of bodily harm and move on to the negotiations, shall we?"

"What negotiations?" he asked carefully.

"I won't deny that I would take great pleasure in this little one." The vampire reached out to stroke Lindsay's shorn hair. "She is young and supple and so very pure." His hands slipped under her hair to caress her neck and the girl shuddered violently. "There is, however, someone that I want more."

Reece tightened his grip on his soulmate, wishing he could turn away so that Lex would be spared the weight of the vampire's lascivious stare as it swept up and down her body.

"You cannot imagine how the memory of her has plagued me these last five years," Zarek said. "She brought me greater pleasure than I have ever wrought from another. I dream of her, still. I dream of the day that I made her, the first time that I tasted her, the first time I lost myself in her. I dream of her screams, her cries, her soul fracturing in my hands. If I had known that it could be so easily mended, I would never have let her go."

"Stop," the witch ordered quietly.

"She loved it, you know," the vampire continued. "Regardless of what she may have told you, she _loved_ everything I did to her. She wouldn't have become so creative otherwise."

Reece was shaking, hate coating his insides.

"She had a talent for it. She was an artist, like me. Did she ever tell you about the time that she tied up a mother and father and forced them to watch as she slit the throats of their young children? Oh, I know that it sounds simple enough, but the beautiful part was what she did afterward. She left the parents bound to their chairs in the house, forcing them to breathe in the stench of their children's putrefied flesh as they themselves slowly starved to death. It took several weeks."

"Stop it!" the witch roared. Rage burned through him, as hot as the tears in his eyes, demanding that he give in to it, that he tear this vampire apart, limb from limb. Who the fuck cared if Lex or Lindsay got caught in the cross-fire? Nothing mattered, nothing but his hate and his need to destroy.

He battled it. This was what Zarek wanted. This mind-fuck was what he lived for. The vampire got off on turning people into monsters and Reece couldn't allow himself to succumb to that. Desperately, he clung to the words that Nick had spoken earlier: _He's got nothing on you, Cahill. Don't let him win like that..._

Swallowing down all of his anger, he looked at the vampire coldly. "But you said it yourself: her mind is gone. You have no use for her."

"Mm. That is true." Zarek wet his lips. His eyes abandoned Alexandra as if she no longer existed and they locked on Reece. "That's why I need you."

"Me?" the witch repeated.

"You are her soulmate. She lives in you."

His voice wedged deep in his throat and it was a long moment before he could dislodge it. "I didn't think your tastes ran that way."

"Oh, I am more than willing to make an exception for her. For you."

He felt like a swarm of insects was crawling over his skin and Reece had to stifle his own shudder of revulsion. He wanted to crush his soulmate against him and run far away from here, but then he looked down at Lindsay and remembered what Zarek had said: This was a negotiation. "If I agree, then you'll let her go? You won't come after her again?"

The vampire nodded. "Precisely."

"What guarantee do I have?"

"None. But then I don't think you'll need one. You know what you would be condemning her to if you were to leave here now." He looked at Reece pensively. "Think of it, witch. I am offering you the opportunity to be a martyr, to surrender your soul in Alexandra's stead. This is what you have wanted since the moment you first stepped inside of her mind. All of these months, you have believed that you were hunting me to avenge her, but in your heart, you knew that that would never be enough. You wanted to save her from the pain in the first place. You have that chance now and you can't help but take it."

He was right. Goddamn him. And goddamn that telepathy of his.

But Reece couldn't just go with him. Even if she was in this interminable coma, Lex might still be able to feel what Zarek did to him. His sacrifice would be for nothing.

There were spells that could cure that, though. Ones that would block out the soulmate link so completely that it would be almost nonexistent—he'd heard of it being done in some extreme cases. Nick could cast it for her, once he realized what had happened...

Shit, no. Nick _couldn't_ help her because he would probably end up in prison along with Karissa. More than that, there would be no one to even _find_ Lex if Reece were to leave her on the ground right now. And above all, she needed to be protected; it was horrible and unfair, but his soulmate's life was worth more than Lindsay's.

"I can't leave Lex here like this," he said. "Alone."

Zarek nodded. "Because she is a so-called 'Wild Power', yes? Well, you needn't worry. There is someone close by who will come for her as soon as we are gone. You know of whom I speak."

The witch sighed wearily. Of course, he should have known. The Daybreakers had shown up at the house after receiving an anonymous tip and there was only one person who could have made that call. "Aiden St. Helen."

"Yes. And while you may have your doubts, he would die before he ever let any harm come to Alexandra. Are you willing to do the same?"

"You know I am." He swallowed. "But first you have to let Lindsay go."

"Certainly." Zarek gave the girl a hard shove and she landed on her knees in front of Reece.

Her eyes were wide and glassy with unshed tears as she looked up at him, but the loathing was no longer there. "You don't have to do this," she whispered.

"Yes, I do." He offered her a hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. "Just get out of here. Find a phone and call your parents."

"But—"

"Do it. Go, now."

She blinked and the tears in her eyes spilled over. "I'm sorry."

"I know," he said huskily. "Just go."

Thankfully, she did just that. The longer lengths of her hair flying behind her, Lindsay ran past him down the narrow path. As he watched her go, Reece already missed her. Rationally, he knew that he had saved countless lives over the years, but it suddenly felt like she was his one good thing—the only person he'd ever truly saved.

He tried to hold on to that thought as he crouched down and carefully laid his soulmate on the ground. Goddess, he didn't want to leave her like this. It reminded him too much of how he'd been forced to leave Genevieve Harman's dead body in an alley as if it were nothing more than a piece of trash.

Remembering the strange feeling that had come over him when he'd left that same alley with Lex in his arms just a few hours ago, he wondered if this was really the end that fate had been building toward. Maybe it was fitting, in a way.

He touched Alexandra's face, his thumb brushing over her lips, and he wished that he could think of something to say. All he could do was stare at her, remembering how her lips looked when they were curved into a smile. How her eyes sparkled when she laughed. How she flushed when they were fused together, her heart pounding against his.

Then he remembered that Zarek was standing right behind him, most likely seeing everything inside of his mind. The thought of sharing his memories of Lex with the vampire sickened Reece, but he supposed that he'd better get used to it. Her maker would take what he wanted from him one way or another.

As he forced himself to stand up and turn away from his soulmate, Reece noticed two silvery points of light in the darkness that lay across the street and his lips tightened. So Zarek hadn't been lying about that after all.

Torn between relief and abhorrence, he simply gave up. _Nice play, Aiden_, he thought. _Take care of her or I swear upon everything that is righteous and true in this world, you will come to regret it._

The silvery eyes slid downward slightly, as if Aiden were nodding. Or perhaps he was simply shifting his gaze away in shame. Reece didn't particularly care which, as long as the vampire had heard him.

Zarek paid no attention to the exchange. With a lecherous smile, he reached out to stroke the witch's cheek, mimicking the way Reece had touched Lex a moment ago. "You are mine, beautiful witch."

Reece's stomach pitched and turned as the blood drained from his face. He was supposed to be brave about this. This was what he wanted. Lex would be safe. Lindsay would grow up happily—his one good thing. He had to remember that. He had to keep breathing because it would all be worth it in the end. This was what he wanted, damn it!

None of that seemed to matter. Unwittingly, he broke into a cold sweat as Zarek leaned into him. When the vampire's lips grazed his cheek, Reece shivered so hard that it felt like his soul was trying to shake itself free from his body. And when he felt a cold, wet tongue flick over his throat, his stomach finally rolled over and died.

The only thought that offered him any comfort as he bent down and vomited at Zarek's feet was that at least no one he cared about was watching.

* * *

In awe, Aiden watched Alexandra's witch throw up on the ground. He had always believed that Reece Cahill was perfect. A pillar of strength and virtue. Someone who never faltered, never failed, never feared, never questioned—someone like Eve. Now that he had proof that the witch wasn't infallible after all, Aiden should have been happy. He should have laughed his ass off. But something was holding him back—a strange tightness in his chest, as if there were a metal cord wrapped around his heart that was being pulled from both ends—and for the life of him, he could not understand it. It was similar to the crushing pressure he sometimes felt when Eve was demanding that he right some wrong that he had committed, but she was still gone from him. This sensation, whatever it was, had nothing to do with her.

What confounded him even more was that the feeling got worse as he watched Alexandra's maker lead the witch down the street. It wasn't exactly what he had intended to happen when he called the Vermont Daybreakers—he'd assumed that Reece, being a model Daybreaker, would give himself up without a fight. Still, it left Aiden alone with Lex, which had been his ultimate goal. So why did he feel like he was going to be sick as well?

_Don't look back_, he reminded himself. What was done was done. He had Lex now and that was all that mattered.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he crossed the street and entered the path where the witch had left Lex lying on the ground. Her face was soft and peaceful in sleep, which was a little worrisome because he'd thought that she never slept peacefully. Her maker had implied that she wouldn't wake up and as he looked down at her now, Aiden was afraid that it was true. He was afraid that he would never be able to look into her eyes, as he'd done in his dream, and know that she truly cared for him. Worse yet, he might never learn if anything would really change between them if they finished the kiss that they'd been denied in the alley.

And maybe that was no more than he deserved.

A sad sigh escaped from his lips and the sound of it startled him. He wanted to bend down to pick her up, but he felt so heavy. It exhausted him just to stand there and look at her. This had to be some lingering effect of his hangover. Had to be.

After a few minutes, he became aware that while he was staring at Lex, someone was staring at him. With enormous effort, Aiden lifted his head to find the little girl who had been used as leverage against Reece standing close by. She froze in place and held her breath, apparently believing that if she stayed completely still, he wouldn't be able to see her there. He tried to search her mind, but he wasn't surprised when he hit a brick wall.

Fine. He would do this the conventional way. "What do you want?" he asked her.

She sniffled and took a shaky breath. "Can—can you help me?"

He gave her an ironic smile. "Sorry, kid. I can't even help myself. Why don't you scamper off and call your parents, like you were told."

The girl didn't move. Her eyes fell to Lex and then she looked at him again. "You're the one that Reece mentioned, right?" she asked tentatively. "Aiden St. Helen?"

Briefly he wondered if the name tasted like ashes in her mouth, as it did in his. "It would appear so, now wouldn't it."

"Are you a witch, too?"

"No."

"Are you human?"

"No."

"Then what are—"

Aiden bared his fangs. "Take a wild guess," he hissed.

The girl's trembling hand stifled her gasp and she backed away from him, as everyone eventually did.

"That's right," he said with a nasty smile. "So run along now before I get hungry."

To his chagrin, the girl recovered from her initial shock and took a wary step closer to him. She narrowed her eyes and let her gaze wander over his face, as if she were searching for something. Aiden had the feeling that if he were to kneel down right now, she would cup his face in her small, delicate hands and hold him still until she found what she was looking for. "Are you evil?"

The answer was obvious, but the question took him aback. No one had ever asked him that outright and he found himself at a loss for words. When he finally replied, he hardly recognized his voice. "If I was, wouldn't I just lie about it?"

Her eyes were relentless. "I don't know."

For some reason her admission made him soften a little in spite of himself. "Listen, kid—"

"Lindsay," the girl broke in.

"Whatever. You're in way over your head. The Night World will eat you alive, so just get out while you still can."

"What's the Night World?"

He let out an exasperated breath. The witch really hadn't told her anything, had he?

"Underground society of vampires, witches, and shapeshifters."

"A whole society?" she repeated in awe. "Are you all evil?"

"What is it with you and that word?"

She flushed, looking away from him in embarrassment, and Aiden was grateful for the reprieve from her gaze. "I just want to know if you're going to hurt me," she said in a small voice. "And I was hoping you would help me."

"Help you do what?" he asked impatiently.

"Save Reece."

Aiden burst into a raucous laughter that shredded his insides.

Lindsay flushed a deeper shade of red and pressed her lips together. "Don't you care?"

"I don't know what assumptions you've made, but he and I aren't friends. We're more like mortal enemies."

"You didn't answer the question," she pointed out.

Her comment drove the laughter back down his throat. Who the hell was this kid? "I believe the answer was implied," he said tightly. "But for the record: No, I don't care. I don't care about him and I don't care about you. The only thing that I do care about is _her_."

The girl looked down at Alexandra. "But isn't she—Reece's girlfriend?"

"What the fuck is this? Twenty Questions?" he snapped, feeling like he'd been sucker-punched. "Get the hell out of here."

"I can't!" Lindsay suddenly cried. "It's my fault that Reece is with that—that—"

She looked at him uncertainly and Aiden rolled his eyes. "He's a vampire, too," he supplied. "And before you even ask, so is Lex."

"It's my fault," she said again. "I thought that he was evil, because he was a witch. I thought that he wanted to hurt me, so I ran away. But I was wrong. He sacrificed himself for me. I just…I shouldn't have doubted."

It was interesting how simple this all seemed to her. It was almost charming in a way, but at the same time, it was irritating as hell. "Yeah," he said dully. "He's a fucking saint. We all know this."

"Do you know what Zarek is going to do to him?"

_Zarek_. It stung him that this random girl knew the name of Lex's maker while Aiden hadn't. "I already told you that I don't care."

"But you _have_ to," she insisted. "You're the only one who can help me."

"You've got the wrong person. I'm a firm believer that evil is a subjective term, but I'm pretty damn sure that I would fit _your_ definition rather well."

Lindsay's shoulders shook with a silent sob, but she refused to let the tears in her eyes fall. "Please."

Aiden's lip curled. "Let me give you a piece of advice: Learn to live with the guilt because sooner or later you're going to realize that regret is the only thing any of us will ever have."

"Please."

Fuck. He'd had enough of this. He turned away from the girl and picked Lex up off the ground. Her skin brushed against his, opening the soulmate link between them, but its hum was nothing more a harsh hush now. He had to get her away from here, someplace safe. Maybe he could steal a car, lay her down on the back seat, and continue driving down to Key West, as they'd planned.

"Please," Lindsay said for the third time.

He needed to find a place to rest first. Exhaustion still lay like a heavy blanket over him, but a little sleep would take all of this pain away.

Holding Lex close against him, he walked out onto the street.

Lindsay followed him. She stayed a few feet behind him, but he could hear the click of her shoes against the sidewalk. Her scent wafted up to him on the breeze—a cloud of youth and innocence—and it triggered the serrated memory of the young girl in the green dress that he'd held against the wall this morning during his rampage. It disturbed him suddenly that he couldn't remember if he'd killed that girl or not.

Silently, they walked. Aiden was glad that the girl had stopped pleading with him, but he didn't believe for a moment that she had given up completely. She was probably waiting for him to change his mind or perhaps she needed time to think of a new angle of attack, now that her big, tearful eyes had failed her.

He wanted to hurt her. He wanted to kill her. He wasn't sure why he did neither.

The rows of houses blended together, as did the thoughts of the humans inside them. Their heat and noise was a welcome distraction, but eventually, Aiden found a house that was empty. Of course, the owners could come back at any time, but spotting the full mailbox, he didn't think so; they were probably on vacation.

"Is this your home?" the girl asked as he walked up the front steps.

Without sparing her a glance, he kicked the door in and tore the alarm system from the wall before it had a chance to ring. "What do you think."

"But this is breaking and entering," she said.

Aiden almost smiled at her appalled tone. "Trust me, this is just a drop in the ocean of sins I've committed."

He'd hoped that that statement would scare her off, but it only seemed to make her curious. "Have you ever killed anyone?" she whispered as they ascended the staircase to the third floor.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that question?" he snarled. "Goddamn it."

They turned down the hallway and he systematically checked every room until he found the master bedroom. The walls, curtains, and carpet were all a deep shade of blue and as he entered the room, Aiden felt as if he were diving under water. The large, cherry wood bed was covered with a blue sateen comforter that was cool against his skin as he lay Lex down. It might have been his imagination, but he thought that she sighed a little as she sank into the bed.

Lindsay was still behind him. He could feel her dissecting his every move with her watchful eyes. Her breath was too shallow. "Are you sorry?"

Something snapped inside of him. Whipping around, he glared at her menacingly. "Don't play this game with me, little girl. I'm not the murderer with the heart of gold, do you understand? I don't need you to be my conscience. Someone else has already tried that and she failed. She gave up on me." He paused to take a breath, unnerved by the hysterical edge of his own voice. When he finally spoke again, he just sounded tired. "I suggest you do the same."

The girl smiled softly and that angered him all over again. He didn't need some kid feeling sorry for him. Before he could yell at her for that, she said, "Maybe she didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"Maybe she didn't give up on you. Maybe she just realized that God gave us free will for a reason."

Aiden opened his mouth and shut it again. In another time and place, with another person, he would have found a biting, sarcastic retort. In that moment, however, with the girl staring up at him, seeming wise beyond her years in her unyielding faith, he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

* * *

Southeast Washington, D.C. A dirty and dangerous neighborhood for a human, to be sure, but it was a haven for vampire covens. They lived together and hunted together, finding safety in numbers from the human world. These were salt of the earth vampires, those who cared little for wealth or luxury or politics. They existed for a single purpose: to feed.

Any person would do—young, old, rich, poor, strong, sick, bold, insipid—indiscriminately, they preyed upon them all. For this reason, Zarek found them distasteful. Although they sometimes amused themselves with torture, they never took the time to know their victims, to appreciate the soul they were plucking from this earth like a grape from the vine. They never even bothered to taste the blood that poured over their tongues before guzzling it down.

Zarek did not like being here, feeling these vagabonds scurry past him like rats in the night. He could feel their filth seeping into him with every breath he took and even more vexing was the thought that the witch at his side was being tainted by it as well. Unfortunately, he needed space to work and he needed equipment and these pathetic, hapless vampires had both.

The street was lined by old warehouses with boarded up windows. From the outside, they seemed abandoned, but in actuality they were far from it. The stench of death and decay was thick in the air, masking the life that moved within the buildings and also serving as a warning to those humans who would be foolish enough to think of entering.

Zarek approached the large, metal door of one of the warehouses and knocked.

The door opened a crack—just far enough for him to see the profile of the vampire guarding it. "Password?"

Effortlessly plunging through his blocks, Zarek stole the password from the recesses of the vampire's mind and tossed it back to him.

The guard made a grunting sound and heaved the door open. "Welcome."

As soon as he was allowed inside, Zarek reached for the stake that was hidden in his coat pocket and killed the guard.

"Hey!" cried a female vampire who was nearby. She and her companion both charged at him, but in a matter of seconds, he had reduced them to dust.

An alarm was sounded, but he knew that there were only three more vampires in the building—the rest were out hunting and wouldn't be back for several hours—and after years of doing nothing more than feasting on humans, they were overconfident about their strength. In less than a minute, they all fell before him.

Reece Cahill remained in the doorway and once they were alone again, Zarek motioned for him to come inside. "Lock the door behind you," he ordered.

Wordlessly, the witch complied.

"Good. Now, follow me."

As he led the way down into the basement, he had to admit that the witch's acquiescence was truly disappointing. After the fight they'd had in Vermont, Zarek had been expecting more than this. Reece had been at his side for little more than an hour and already he appeared to be broken.

Then again, appearances were deceiving, and this game had barely even begun.

The walls in the basement were solid concrete and drilled into them were heavy, iron chains and stocks. The vampires often held humans here, saving them for a time when hunters were prevalent and it was no longer safe for them to leave this place to feed, but it was empty at the moment.

Strewn across the table in the center of the room were rusty knives, screwdrivers caked with dried blood, and several dozen stakes—a primitive arsenal that was used against humans, hunters, and rival vampire covens alike. It wasn't the sort of tools that he normally enjoyed working with, but they would do for now.

Without being asked, the witch moved against the wall and lifted his hands.

Zarek gave him a stiff smile as he locked the shackles around Reece's wrists. Then he turned to the weapons table and found an ice pick. This wasn't part of his original plan, but he just couldn't stand the witch's silent obedience any longer.

He traced the sharp point over the contours of Reece's face, hoping to hear his pulse begin to race with fear. The witch just stared back at him with dead eyes.

Barely containing his snarl, he speared the ice-pick through the witch's shoulder and finally had the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. "Better."

Reece bit down on the scream. He clenched his jaw and gasped for breath as he broke into a sweat. "Fuck you."

"Much better," Zarek replied with a smile.

Then he retracted the weapon and stabbed the witch through the other shoulder. Reece tried to smother his scream this time, but his eyes still rolled back in his head.

A while later, when the witch's blood was starting to pool at his feet, Zarek set the ice-pick back down on the table and gazed at his new slave. "I know what you're thinking," he said softly.

"I don't doubt that," Reece breathed.

"You believe that I cannot change you into a vampire," Zarek continued, "so you are comforted by the thought that there is a limit to the things I can do to you. Life can be crushed from a witch's body almost as easily as from a human's."

"Hazard of the trade."

"Yes. Well, I'm afraid that I have a confession to make—something that is going to shatter those notions with which you console yourself."

The witch looked at him, his eyes finding the truth in Zarek's smile. "No," he said. "It's not possible."

"Oh, it is. I was thirty-five years old when I was changed. The one who made me was nearly forty when he became a vampire, back in the days of Babylon." He leaned in closer, murmuring into the witch's ear. "That's the secret, you see. Our power grows with time and the power in my blood will take root inside of you even before your heart stops beating. It will sustain you while you die. When you wake, my beautiful witch, you will be my child." He let his voice fall to a whisper. "And soon, your darling Lindsay will be as well."

Reece mustered the strength to slam his forehead into Zarek's temple. "We had a deal," he growled.

The vampire laughed. "There's that fire that I do so covet." Then he moved back a little, wanting to see the witch's face clearly before he continued. "I believe our deal was that I would not go after Lindsay, but there were no stipulations on someone bringing her to me."

"No," the witch gasped again. He clenched his fists and strained against the shackles that were restraining him to the wall.

"You didn't honestly believe that I was going to let either of them go, did you?"

"But Lex's mind—"

"—is perfectly intact. She has locked herself away, just beyond your reach, but she's not beyond mine. I've warned her that there was nowhere she could run that I would not follow. Tonight I'm going to prove it to her."

"You lied," Reece spat. "You planned this."

"Of course. Isn't this what you wanted, witch? To feel what Alexandra felt with me all of those years? You shouldn't have sought me out if you weren't ready to know."

"The second she senses you, she'll run halfway across the world. You'll never find her."

"She's still my child. She'll do as I say, and you know it."

"Lindsay and I won't," Reece swore. "If you bring her into this, you're giving me an ally and you won't be able to keep the both of us down, especially not after you change us."

"You could be right," Zarek replied. "So I suppose I'll have to eliminate one of you. Which one, will depend on you."

Slowly, he touched the witch's face and pushed his head back, exposing his throat. "Don't you understand?" he murmured, letting his lips brush against Reece's skin. "None of you has ever had a choice in this. As I said before, I am an artist."

Unable to contain his desire any longer, Zarek sank his teeth in. He couldn't remember when he had last fed from a witch, but as the rich blood filled his mouth, he could not fathom why he had let so much time pass. Fortified with the Elements, each drop of blood burned him, smothered him, drown him, and left him soaring. He could feel the magick flooding into him like a surge of electricity and he wished that he had the ability to wield it—imagine the pain he could inflict.

The witch's mind was all around him, as bright and green as his eyes. There was strength and hope there that Reece had tried to hide, perhaps even from himself, but it was clear to Zarek now that this witch was far from broken. To shatter a soul like his would take time and innovation and devotion, but it would be beautiful.

After a few minutes of searching, he uncovered the subtle shimmering hum in Reece's mind: the soulmate link—the direct conduit from this witch to his precious Alexandra. Of course, Zarek could contact her and rouse her to consciousness without it, but it would be far more amusing to use this link, upon which she had grown so dependent, against her.

The witch was always so careful with her. Reece drew her out, pushed her, forced her to face herself, but his first priority all the while was to establish trust by making her feel safe. Without that, she would erect impenetrable walls around herself, forever ruining any chance that she would let him love her. Patience was the key.

It was no different for Zarek. Letting Lindsay run away and leaving Alexandra on the ground were the most difficult tasks he had ever faced, but his discipline was about to pay off. Soon he would have the both of them and the witch as well. Then the fun could truly begin.

Still, he couldn't contain his exuberance as he wrapped his mind around the soulmate link and gave it a savage yank. When he felt her startle, instantly shifting from a deep sleep to acute awareness, he nearly wept from the sheer pleasure of it.

_Alexandra..._

* * *

_Hey everyone! The end is finally in sight. Another two or three chapters to go and I'll have to say goodbye to my favorite people.. and you guys, too. P Though, I do plan on going back and rewriting some of Haunted soon. I've gotten to know my characters better as I've written them, which unfortunately has led to some slight discrepancies. So I want to fix them and make it slightly less sucky in general._

_Many thanks and good karma points to my reviewers.._

_silver trees: I'm glad you liked the way I wrote the new Daybreakers. I sort of figured all along that there's no way they could be passive push-overs and still win a war. So sometimes they have to do what they have to do. Thank you!_

_incarnated-soul: Yay, I loved writing that part with Nick and Karissa. I've got something in mind for them for the end, so don't you worry. Would the Daybreakers have handled things differently if they'd known that Lex was a Wild Power--most likely, yes. But Reece has always felt that the biggest threat to her was other people knowing who she was. So, he was very stuck until Nick gave him a way out. Would Lindsay have taken it better if Reece had told her about the Night World? Probably. She would have been terrified at first, but she would have gotten over that.. the problem here was that she's a ten year-old girl who has watched waaaaay too much news and when you couple that with her religion, she's sort of paranoid about people in general._

_Daugain: Thank you! As I said above, I really don't think Daybreak could be all hugs and fluffy bunnies if they want to survive the war, especially when the other side is merciless. They're going to have to compromise their values at some point._


	17. Resurrecting Copenhagen

Alexandra was floating on a cloud of softness. Lost in some mystical stratosphere, the world around her was warm and white and calm. Bright light enveloped her, but to her surprise it didn't sting or smother her. She breathed it in, letting it flow through her as she melted into bliss.

Was she awake? Was she dreaming?

She didn't know. Didn't care.

_Let me fade away._

From time to time, a strange sort of pressure disturbed her tranquility. She felt like she was inside of a bubble of peace and someone was poking at it from the outside, trying to pop it. But her malleable walls yielded to the force, absorbing and cushioning it. Bending, but never breaking, the walls kept her safe until the pressure finally waned. Then everything was calm and quiet once more.

She felt happy and free, and she had the sense that this was an oddity. Her memories were fuzzy—softened and shaded by the white light that flooded this place—but she could still feel them like a weight shackled to her ankle, trying to drag her down. She didn't care to remember who she was or where she'd been; she didn't want to remember the dull throb of guilt or the sickening stir of fear. She wanted to cut herself free from her memories and let them sink to the bottom of this bubble so that she could float up towards the warmth at the surface.

As she lazily drifted through this world of sun and silver linings, a cold, dark vortex materialized before her. The air that had been still only a moment ago was suddenly rushing at her, blowing her hair forward as it was sucked into the abyss. Like a black hole, it devoured all of her light, growing larger as it fed until its pull was inescapable. It was tugging at her, like a noose around her heart, drawing her down.

She tried to scream as she was swallowed by the darkness, but the cacophony of rushing winds drowned it out. Each razor-thin current of air seemed to cut through her, drawing blood as they screamed in her ears. It was a maelstrom of noise and ice, but through it all, she could make out a single, cohesive sound.

_Alexandra…_

Her eyes snapped open. Her body paralyzed by fear, she looked around, finding herself in a bedroom she did not recognize. The walls were painted a deep shade of blue, which made the room seem smaller than it actually was. She could feel them closing in on her, weighing down on her, pushing her deeper into the bed.

In a panic, she squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to will herself back into the white light.

"I know you're awake."

She hadn't heard that voice in five years, but it still made her shudder. Breathing hard, she held her body rigid, bracing herself for whatever he was about to do to her.

To her shock, he touched her face with unusual tenderness. His hands were as cold as she remembered, his fingertips just as smooth. "No use pretending, Alexandra. You know that never works. Open your eyes. Look at me."

Silently, she did as he commanded.

As he leaned over her, her first thought was that he was still beautiful. His dark hair was cut short and it gleamed in the moonlight that illuminated the room. Like any vampire, his skin was pale and flawless, but because of his age, it seemed harder somehow, more like wax than flesh. But it was always his eyes that got to her. Those onyx orbs stared down at her mercilessly, empty in spite of his intensity.

As she gazed at him, a word that she had long ago buried in the recess of her mind—the name that he had always insisted she call him—spilled from her lips. "_Kyrios_."

Lord and master.

He smiled. "I see you haven't forgotten me." Holding her chin, he turned her face from side to side. "Fascinating. I trapped you in an inferno and yet there is not a mark on you. A vampire's ability to regenerate has never ceased to amaze me."

Lex jerked her chin away from him. Her body may have healed, but her soul never would.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, my love," he said. "You have healed more than you realize. More than I ever thought possible. I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Should I consider myself lucky?" she murmured.

He didn't answer. Instead, he took her hand and gently pulled her up so that she was sitting on the bed. She gasped as she saw Aiden perched on the arm of a large blue armchair at the foot of the bed. Unable to restrain herself, she rushed over to him, but he didn't look at her. When she tried to touch his face, her hand went right through him, as if he were a ghost.

"This isn't real?"

"This isn't a dream, if that's what you're asking," her maker replied. "You're awake, but I have drawn you into my mind."

Lex nodded. God, this had been her worst fear for five years and now it was happening. She should be terrified, should be on the verge of hysterics, but she felt too disconnected. As much as her maker terrified her, she knew him. Knew this game. It was more familiar to her than the short-lived happiness she'd found with Reece. She had been yanked from heaven into the deepest pits of hell, but it a way, it was good to be home.

Turning away from Aiden, she looked around the bedroom. She waited for a spark of recollection, but it didn't happen. She was sure that she had never been here before. "Where is this?" she asked.

Her maker stood close behind her. He drew her hair back, tossing it to one side so that her neck was exposed. "A house in Georgetown."

A shiver passed through her as she glanced at the bed and saw her own body lying there. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," he replied. "It hasn't quite been a full day yet."

It had felt much longer. She had the feeling that she had missed a lot. "How did we end up here?"

Leaning down, her maker's lips brushed against the outer shell of her ear. "Your lover brought you here after I took your soulmate."

Lex's heart stopped as his words shattered her sense of detachment. Staring dazedly at her own sleeping form, she choked out, "What?"

A dark laugh rumbled in her ear. "How I have missed the taste of your fear."

She shook her head. "It isn't true."

"You know better," he murmured. "You would have known it the moment you awakened if you weren't so self-centered, Alexandra. How do you think I dragged you away from your precious white light?"

That world seemed as fuzzy now as the real world had before, but vaguely, she remembered that she had felt like the black hole had been drawing her in by her heart. It must have been the pull of the soulmate link. "Oh god, no."

Suddenly, the scene before her changed. The bed that had been in front of her had been replaced by a large wooden table that held an assortment of weapons. The room widened and the blue walls turned into cold, damp stone. And chained to the wall was Reece.

A sob caught her throat at the sight of him. His clothes were soaked in his own blood. His head hung limp, his complexion so pale that it seemed blue. But his chest rose and fell ever so slightly; he was still clinging to life.

She cried out his name, but he couldn't hear her.

"What did you do to him?" she gasped.

Her maker chuckled. "Not all that much. If he was too weak, he wouldn't have survived the change."

Lex kneeled down next to Reece, wishing that she could touch his face. She couldn't detect any difference in him, but that was probably because she wasn't actually there with him. Either that or her maker was lying.

She was startled when her maker spoke again. He was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her neck, but she hadn't heard him move. "Mm. You've never bitten him before, have you?" The sound of his voice was hypnotizing as his fingers wove into her hair, guiding her head to the side. "You should try it some time. He tastes almost as good as you."

"Oh god," she whispered again. How could this have happened? She had always been terrified that her maker would come for her, but knowing that he had her soulmate was infinitely worse. She should have left Reece sooner, should never have gone with him to Montreal in the first place. This was all her fault and that thought hurt more than she could have imagined.

"Don't pretend that you don't enjoy it," her maker purred. "Don't tell me that you don't feel a rush of pleasure. A sense of relief that the worst has finally happened. There is nothing left to lose."

"You always found something else to take," she murmured.

He let his fangs graze her throat. "You gave it all willingly. And you loved every second of it.

Tears stung her eyes as the feel of his mouth against her skin dispelled her will to move. "Not every one."

"Do you remember Copenhagen, Alexandra?"

She flinched, and the tears in her eyes fell. Of all the memories that plagued her, Copenhagen was the one that she wanted most to forget. She had been his slave for fourteen years when he brought her to Denmark and she had long since stopped fighting him. When he tore off her clothes, she lay like a rag doll in his arms. When he thrust his fangs into her throat, she no longer screamed. He forced her to feel everything that he did to her and how he felt when he did them, but she didn't care any more. The pain still seared her, but she had developed a tolerance for it because she knew that the moment he stopped hurting her, the quiet afterwards was so sublime that it almost seemed worth the agony.

Looking back on it, Lex was sure that he'd been growing weary of her and it wouldn't have been long before he killed her if nothing had changed. If _she_ hadn't changed.

The night after they arrived in Copenhagen, he sent her out onto the streets to find a human to toy with. Normally, he would follow close behind her, the sound of his footsteps warning her that even though she was walking freely, she was far from free. That night, however, he let her out alone.

As she walked through the Tivoli Gardens, she thought about running. Her maker was nowhere to be found and he wasn't keeping a telepathic watch on her either. Before he realized what happened, she probably could have gotten far enough away from him that he wouldn't be able to hone in on her mind.

Then Lex distinctly remembered thinking: _What's the point?_ She didn't know how to live without him and after all the things he'd forced her to do, she didn't believe that she deserved to be saved. Besides, he would have found her eventually anyway. He wouldn't stop searching until he found her and when he did, the punishment for her insolence would have been inconceivable.

A heavy sense of helplessness had settled over her. She would obey him; there was nothing to be done about it. Her chest had burned with useless rage. What she wouldn't give to feel strong and capable, to have power over _something_. But she would never win with him—after fourteen years of torture, that terrible truth was the only certainty in her life.

Her steps painstakingly slow, she'd searched through the crowd in the gardens for the kind of victim her maker had wanted that night—a young man with blond hair and a soft voice.

A few hours later, she had finally found someone who fit that description, but as she approached him, a girl crossed her path. It was her dark, curly hair that had caught Alexandra's attention because it was so similar to her own, but it was the girl's carefree laughter that ultimately drew her in. As she stared at the girl, it occurred to her that she couldn't remember how it felt to laugh and the thought filled her with desperate longing and pure hatred.

Disregarding her maker's demands, she lured the girl back to the house they were renting.

He said nothing about her disobedience as Lex tied the girl down to the table. He just looked on curiously as she traced a scalpel across her creamy white skin, peeling the girl's flesh away one inch at a time.

If she tried, Lex could still hear the screams. They had been intoxicating because she had known that she was responsible for them. She had stolen that girl's laughter, just as her own had been stolen. At last, she'd had proof that there were people out there who were weaker than her and she had the power to take from them what she wanted. To grant them life or death.

Though she had been inside of her maker's mind countless times, this was the first time she understood his soul. That changed everything. Killing that girl had drawn a line through her life: before that, she might have been considered innocent in all that she'd done, but after…

"It was your choice," her maker said to her now. "You wanted it. You needed it. You still do."

"No," she whimpered.

His teeth scraped her throat as she sobbed silently in his arms. For so long, she had tried to tell herself that she was free and that her mind was her own, but she knew now that she would always belong to him, body and soul. She was his child, his lover, his creation. He understood her in a way that Reece and even Aiden never could. There was no escaping that; she was as helpless against him now as she'd always been.

She felt a sudden sting as his teeth broke the sensitive skin of her neck. He teased her for a moment, and just when she was sure that he would sink into her and drink until she was on the brink of death, he shoved her roughly onto the ground.

Stunned, Lex turned over and found herself back in the bedroom where her body still lay. She dug her fingers into the plush blue carpet and the words came to her instinctively—she couldn't say how many times in her life she had uttered them. "What is it you want, _Kyrios_?"

He stood over her and smiled. "I want Copenhagen, my love."

"I don't understand."

"You will, as soon as you wake."

She struggled to swallow the aching lump in her throat. "And Reece?"

"He's my insurance policy. If you dare defy me, he will pay the price for your selfishness." Tilting his head to the side, he gave her a knowing look. "Though I suppose that he should be used to doing that by now."

Then her maker crouched next to her. Cupping her cheek with his cold hand, he led her gaze up to his eyes. They were as black and magnetic as the vortex that had sucked her out of her dream world. "You know where to find me. I'll be waiting for you. And for her."

"Her?"

He ignored her question and placed his hand on her forehead, pushing her backwards in a single, quick motion. Caught off guard, she tumbled back, but her head never hit the floor. Instead, she felt as if she were falling through it. The air cradled her, gently lowering her down into some unknown abyss.

After a minute, she landed hard and the impact shook her body, jolting her into consciousness. With some difficulty, she managed to open her eyes. As soon as she blinked away the last traces of sleep, she was certain that this place was real—there were details in the ceiling, in the blanket covering her, in the very air that she breathed that hadn't been there before. It was all too vivid and grainy and hollow to be a dream.

She strained her senses, listening intently to the ringing silence as she tried to feel his presence, but there was nothing. He had left her alone for now, certain that she would follow his orders. No doubt it would be a greater rush for him when she came to him of her own accord. It would prove to the both of them how much power he still held over her.

It was all about power in the end.

"Lex!" she heard someone gasp. Then a pair of arms scooped her up and held her close to a hard, familiar body.

Aiden. Of course.

Shame nagged at her as she relaxed against him, but she couldn't make herself pull away. In the shelter of his arms, she could almost believe that they had never left New York. The fight with Reece had never happened and the conversation with her maker had been nothing more than a bad nightmare. And if she reversed their positions, she could strip his clothes off and fuck all of those terrible images away.

Then he pulled back slightly, giving her an unobstructed view of the room, and the sight of the deep blue walls shot that fantasy to hell.

"I was worried about you," Aiden whispered. The emotion in his voice took her aback. After what had nearly happened between them in the alley that morning, she knew that his feelings for her ran deeper than their casual relationship warranted, but she hadn't expected him to accept it so easily. She'd thought that he would hide it or tell himself that it had been a drunken mistake. Part of her had even hoped that he wouldn't remember it once he sobered up. But his gray eyes were clear and soft as he looked down at her. He knew what he felt and what he wanted, and he believed that she felt the same way.

And she did…didn't she? At least she had back in that alley, but god, that was before Reece had shown up, before she found out that her maker was holding him hostage and using the soulmate link to get to her.

Lex wanted to cry. She couldn't handle this. She didn't have the energy or the time.

Before she could say anything, a small voice rose from the corner of the room. "Is she okay?"

Turning her head, Lex was surprised to find a little girl sitting in a chair next to the window. That was strange; the girl hadn't been in the room inside of her maker's mind.

"Lindsay," Aiden groaned, "you promised me five minutes. Just _five minutes_ of quiet."

The girl flushed a deep shade of red. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I was just wondering."

"Well, stop it. She's no concern of yours and neither am I. So why don't you just go home already?"

Lindsay drew herself up. "I told you, I have to save—"

"It's not going to happen," the vampire snapped harshly.

Alexandra looked at Aiden in bewilderment. "Who's she?"

"A thorn in my side," he replied.

Yes, Lex supposed that she would be. As Lindsay stared down at the floor, nervously playing with the ends of her butchered light brown hair, she seemed the epitome of youth and fragile human innocence. That alone would be enough to annoy Aiden to no end.

So what was he doing with her, then?

Feeling the weight of Lex's gaze on her, the girl lifted her head. There was fear in her expression. Guilt in her china blue eyes. Beyond that, Alexandra could sense a strength in her that was uncommon in children her age. Uncommon in most people, really. Lindsay might appear to be easily embarrassed, but the truth was that she knew exactly who she was. Even without delving into her mind, Lex knew that this girl believed in goodness and kindness. She believed in doing the right thing regardless of the cost.

God, Circle Daybreak would love her. Reece would love her.

So would her maker.

And suddenly, everything crystallized.

_I want Copenhagen, my love…I'll be waiting for you. And for her._

"He wants you," she murmured. "He wants me to bring you to him."

Lindsay seemed to understand perfectly and though the color fled from her cheeks, there was a look of resignation in her eyes. Acceptance. She was afraid, but she was prepared to face that fear and she was confident that she could withstand it.

In that moment, Lex knew what she had to do.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aiden frown. "Who wants what?"

She glanced back at him. There was no way for her to explain without bringing up the Night World in front of Lindsay and Lex didn't know how much the girl already knew. Then she decided that she didn't care. Now was not the time for subtleties and coded conversations.

"The vampire who changed me," she said softly. "He told me to come to him and I think he wants me to bring her as well."

"When did he tell you that?" he asked carefully.

"He was in my head. Actually, I guess I was in _his_ head. Just before I woke up."

Aiden snarled. Ruthlessly, he grabbed her arm and yanked her up off the bed. "We're out of here. Now." In a graceless, hurried motion, he flung the bedroom door open with his free hand. "I'll find a witch who can cast the cloaking spell and we'll be a thousand miles away before it wears off. He won't be able to find you."

For a scant second, Alexandra was tempted. Aiden knew how to run—he'd been hiding from Circle Daybreak and the Night World for the better part of two years and not once had they come close to catching him. In the end, she found the will to resist. "I can't."

He looked at her, stricken. "Why?"

"He has Reece."

A muscle leapt in Aiden's jaw. "So?"

"The cloaking spell doesn't work against the soulmate link. As long as he has Reece, he can still track me down."

"Then I'll find something that _will_ work," he swore.

"And then he'll find a way around it. He won't ever let me go. He won't give up." She shook her head. "I can't run."

Aiden advanced upon her, his hands closing on her arms as he pushed her back against the wall. "What do you propose, Lex?" he snapped. "You want to give in to him? You want give him Lindsay as well? You want to let him rape you both? Strap you down and pull your fingernails off? Shatter your kneecaps? Brand your skin? Slice you open, let you heal, slice you open, let you heal, slice you open—"

She hadn't realized how much of her past he had actually seen, but he was throwing the descriptions at her now with frightening detail. It actually might have affected her if she hadn't been so distracted by the frenzy that he was quickly working himself into. He was like a caged animal, his breath coming in hot, angry gasps. Trying to gentle him, she placed her finger over his lips and for a moment, she was afraid that he would open his mouth and bite her finger off. "Aiden."

"You make me sick," he told her, letting his lips brush against the pad of her fingertip. "You and your soulmate, both. Do your own lives mean that little to you that you're willing to throw them away for nothing?"

Drawing her hand back, she argued, "It's not for nothing."

"It is. Your witch was stupid enough to sacrifice himself to get you away from Zarek and that bastard went back on his word already. You think he won't do the same thing to you? How naïve are you?"

She cringed inwardly in spite of herself. Her maker had used countless names over the years, but that one—Zarek—was the one he used most often. But not once in her life had she ever spoken it aloud. She had locked it somewhere deep inside of her mind that not even her soulmate could reach. She didn't understand how Aiden knew it.

"He's using you against each other, don't you get that?" the vampire continued. "If you try to trade yourself for your witch, he'll have you both."

"He didn't offer a trade."

"Then what the fuck do you expect to get out of this, Lex?" he demanded.

Over Aiden's shoulder, she saw Lindsay watching them. Even though her blue eyes were so different, they somehow reminded Alexandra of the girl that her maker had brought home the night of the fire. Looking into them, she could see the person that she had once been and the person that she might have become if she had never been changed into a vampire. It strengthened her resolve. "I have to kill him," she said softly.

She had expected Aiden to argue with her again. To tell her that she was insane. Remind her that only a few hours ago she had collapsed at the very thought of her maker. At the very least, she'd thought he would try to convince her that she was too important to be putting her life in jeopardy. But after giving her a hard stare, he merely let go of her arms and took a step back from her. "And I suppose you think that I'm going to help you," he said in a thick voice. "You think I'm going to put my life on the line for you and then once Zarek is dead, I'll graciously stand by to congratulate you and your witch on your reconciliation."

Lex couldn't respond. She honestly hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Fuck that. I went through a lot of trouble to get him out of the way and I won't save him just so you can leave me for him."

"A lot of trouble?" she repeated in disbelief. "You helped my maker take Reece?"

He shrugged. "More or less."

"And you didn't think that he would come after me? Now who's being naïve, Aiden?"

"I thought that you would be smart enough to come with me before Zarek had the chance to get to you," he spat.

"And you expected me to leave my soulmate with him? Or were you not planning on ever telling me that?"

He didn't answer. He just shook his head, as if marveling. "You really were using me all of this time, weren't you? I was just a way to pass the time until your soulmate came running after you."

The accusation startled her. "No," she insisted. "I never even expected him to do that."

Aiden sneered. "You shot blue fire into the air like a fucking emergency flare for him."

"That was an accident!"

"Sure it was, angel. But tell me, was it an accident every time you shut down after we had sex?"

Alexandra recoiled from him, pressing herself further into the wall as her cheeks burned. Her entire body was prickling with anger. "What was I supposed to have done? Cry in your arms from the overpowering emotion? Confess my undying love? Tell you that I felt like we were two halves of the same person? Because you already had all of that, Aiden. And you threw it away."

His silvery eyes flashed in the darkness. "Don't bring Eve into this," he warned.

"She's been here this whole time," Lex retorted. "_You're_ the one who has been using _me_ to sort through your issues with her. She's all you see when you look at me."

"No. What I see is a fragile, selfish whore who would fuck anything that moves just to escape her own self."

His words cut a hole in her heart. This was the very reason that she avoided intimacy: once someone knew your weaknesses and your fears, they would inevitably use them against you. She'd never expected that from Aiden, though. In spite of his warnings and her own apprehension, she had grown to trust him.

"You know, I'm starting to understand why Genevieve wanted to die when she found out who you really were. Who could honestly stand the thought of being bound to _you_ for all eternity?"

"Give it some time, Lex," he replied coldly. "Soon enough your soulmate will be saying the same thing."

"You know nothing about him."

"I know that he was a fool to give his life up for you. Because you're not worth it."

She gave a short laugh. "And _this_ is supposed to convince me to stay with you, Aiden? You think if you insult me enough then I'll decide to let my soulmate rot so I can drive off into the wild blue yonder with you?"

"Why not?" he countered. "You're obviously hooked on abuse. Your maker essentially destroyed you and here you are, running to him again."

"Because I can't run from him any more," she cried. "I've tried it for five years and it doesn't work. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of waking up screaming every night. I can't live like this any more! It has cost me too damn much."

Aiden looked at her with a closed-off expression. "I'm not going to help you."

Even as disappointment pressed down on her shoulders, she whispered, "I know."

He clenched and unclenched his fists. "If you want this done, you do it yourself. I'm gone."

Lex nodded, which only seemed to infuriate him more.

"You're not worth it," he said again. This time his voice was so soft that she wasn't sure if he was speaking to her or to himself.

Then, without a moment's hesitation or a backward glance, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

As soon as she heard the front door slam shut as well, she sank to her knees on the floor. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. If she started crying now, she might never stop.

"I'll help you," a quiet voice said.

Lex lifted her head to see Lindsay kneeling on the floor close by. After everything that was said during the fight with Aiden, she was almost embarrassed to look at her. Letting her eyes slip back down to the floor, Lex tried to smile gratefully. "Thanks, but you can't. Aiden was right; I have to do this myself."

The girl seemed puzzled. "Why?"

"Because. Because all my life, I've depended on someone else to save me. It's time that I learned to save myself."

"But that doesn't mean you have to do it alone. Please, I need to help. I don't really understand what's going on, but it's my fault that Zarek has Reece."

A laugh bubbled up inside of her. Everyone seemed so eager to take the blame for what happened to Reece—Lindsay, Aiden, and of course, Lex herself. Maybe they were all right. Maybe they were all wrong. And maybe it just didn't matter.

Alexandra looked at Lindsay appraisingly. If she failed at this, if she couldn't kill her maker, then he would probably get the little girl anyway—when he set his sights on someone, he didn't give up on them. And if she was honest with herself, Lex had to admit that she couldn't do this alone. So maybe the best way for her to save Lindsay and Reece was to let the girl help.

"Okay," she relented. "But we have to go now."

Lindsay jumped to her feet. "Thank God," she sighed. "I feel like I've been waiting forever."

Lex just nodded. It certainly hadn't felt that long since she'd last seen her maker, the night that he had tried to burn her alive. And she didn't want to say it, but she wasn't sure if "forever" would even be enough time to prepare her for it.

* * *

_Phew! An all Lex chapter. Don't worry, though, I'll get back to the others in the next chapter. :)_

_Thanks to my utterly wonderful reviewers!_

_silver trees: Heh, he was definitely thinking about offing Lindsay. I know she can be annoying sometimes, but most ten year-olds are. :) And I am hoping to get all of the issues resolved in this story, so I don't think I'll be writing another one. These poor people need a break._

_CalliopeMused: Okay, I forgive you for missing the last few chapters because you are always too kind. Thank you:)_

_Lady Bridge: Sorry the cliffhanger was frustrating.. I like to leave you guys wanting more. Thank you so much for reading!_

_animus.vox: Thank you once again for your very sparkling review. You are wonderful. I know I didn't quite get to your question about how Angie knew Zarek's name. I thought I would, but it just didn't come up. But I'll get to it before the end, I swear._

_Daugain: Thanks! It probably will be three chapters.. or least two chapters and a long epilogue. Um, I haven't given much thought to writing something about the other members of Reece's team, but I wanted to leave the door open to do that if a good plot suddenly popped into my head. I would like to catch up with Nigel at some point too, but that won't be for a long time at this rate._


	18. Smoke and Mirrors

A cold front was moving in. The wind had picked up over the last few hours and as Aiden walked through Washington, it easily pierced the cashmere coat that he had stolen yesterday. It bit at his skin, numbing his ears, nose, and fingers, but it did nothing to numb the pain inside.

The road had changed very little in the last nineteen months. Some of the stores had been renovated, some of the potholes filled, but he had walked this way so many times in the past that he still knew every step, every crack in the sidewalk. This was the route that he used to take through Georgetown down to Arlington—to Angie's penthouse. It would have been safer for him to take a cab in those days, to give him some anonymity, but Aiden hadn't really been worried about anyone in Circle Daybreak connecting him to Angie. He had been in the organization too long by then for them to suspect him. He had served them too well.

Until he'd betrayed them, of course.

He wasn't sure why he was walking this way. Angie was dead and the vampire who had taken her place—some incompetent fool whom Aiden had advised Angie to fire—worked out of Adams Morgan. His old life was gone; there was nothing for him in this city any more. But he had nowhere else to go.

It reminded him of the last time he had taken this route—the night that he had tried to kill Eve. Through the pouring rain, he had walked as emotions he never felt before stormed inside of him. Part of him had wanted to go back to her to beg for forgiveness. Part of him had wanted to go back to finish the job. In the end, he'd gone straight to Angie. He could barely stand that bitch, but that night he couldn't help thinking of her as some sort of savior. She would make things right, make him cold, take the pain away. She would help him reassemble the shattered pieces of himself.

He could laugh at that now. God, he'd been delusional, believing that Angie would ever do anything for anyone else. She only ever cared about herself. Aiden was just a pawn in her games, a pretty plaything that she would discard after he had served his purpose.

That was all he had ever been to anyone.

Now that Lex had cast him off, he was alone once again. Walking this same path toward the Key Bridge. Still foolishly believing that he would find himself on the other side.

It was better this way, he told himself. She had done him a favor, really. He had never wanted to be tied to anyone and now for the first time in years, he was finally free. There was no one to answer to, no one nagging him or trying to change him, no one depending on him, no one expecting anything of him at all.

Not that Lex ever had. He could still see the look on her face when he had sworn that he wasn't going to help her save Reece. It was the same way she had looked at him after he killed the two humans in the convenience store—she hadn't been surprised or disappointed in the least. Hell, she hadn't even been angry with him when he admitted to helping Zarek capture her soulmate.

Aiden gritted his teeth as a bewildering wave of bitterness consumed him. He couldn't understand why this was bothering him so much. So what if she had never believed that he was anything more than a ruthless, driven killer? He _was_ a ruthless, driven killer. Wasn't that the whole point of his rampage this morning? To prove to Lex that her assumptions were right and that Eve's were wrong? And wasn't _he_ the one who had insisted that there should be no trust or promises in their relationship? Why should he be so angry that she had treated him exactly the way he wanted to be treated? That she had accepted him for the fucking car wreck of a person that he kept insisting he was?

This was ridiculous. As soon as he crossed the bridge into Arlington he was going to boost a car and get out of this city before Alexandra screwed with his head any more. He had been stupid to go to her in the first place. Whatever higher power had yanked on the soulmate link that night in New York was probably getting good laugh out of this.

Because he _hurt_, damn it. After losing Eve, he thought that he would be used to hurting, but this...this was different, somehow. This was a grinding pain in his stomach. This was a crushing ache in his chest. He couldn't stop seeing the love in Eve's eyes, the acceptance in Alexandra's face, the vomit at Reece's feet. He couldn't stop hearing Lindsay's pleading voice in his head. The soulmate link was like an anchor around his heart, weighing him down, slowing his steps as he approached the bridge.

_Don't look back._

But if he looked ahead, there was nothing there but an empty road. An empty city. An empty life.

Suddenly he wondered what would have happened if he had gone back to Eve that night. What would have happened if he had been able to stop hating her for making him feel? Where would he be now? What would he have?

He sneered at his own idealism. In all likelihood, he would still have nothing. Eve would have forgiven him, but she wouldn't have wanted him—not the real him. Not even Lex had wanted that.

It cut him to the quick. It made him block out the call of the soulmate link, made him carry on when it would be so easy to turn around. He told Lex that she wasn't worth his time, but the truth was that Aiden wasn't worth hers. So he didn't fucking care if she killed Zarek or not. Didn't care if she wound up under that sadistic psycho's thumb or if she and her soulmate lived happily ever after. She had made her choice and he didn't owe it to her to turn back now.

He owed it to Reece.

The thought was so baffling, so utterly out of the blue, that he froze mid-stride.

What the hell did he owe Reece? That fucking goodie-two-shoes witch already had everything. He had friends, a team, a life, a purpose, and of course, he had Lex. Reece had never done anything for Aiden.

Except call for help after he was blasted with blue fire. Except save his life after Angie shot him. Except let him go even after Aiden taunted the witch about sleeping with Alexandra.

But Reece had done all of that for his soulmate, not for Aiden. That bastard hadn't even _wanted_ to save him...

"Fuck," he said aloud. He rubbed his face roughly. Pressed his cold fingertips into his closed eyes. Now that he was standing still, the pull of the soulmate link was even stronger.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. This was a simple matter of will power. All he had to do was keep walking, just put one foot in front of the other until he had left all of this far behind. He was Aiden St. Helen and he had no sense of honor or decency, no concept of obligation or responsibility. Reece might have been foolish enough to help him, but that didn't mean that Aiden would return the favor.

No.

Hell no.

So why wasn't he moving?

"Oh no," he whispered. As he stood before the Key Bridge, his future stretching out before him, he finally recognized the strange pain that was overwhelming him. He knew why he felt sick when Zarek had taken Reece away. Why Lindsay's words had irritated him so much. Why he was so hurt that Alexandra hadn't expected him to help her.

It was guilt. And it wasn't being inflicted upon him by Eve or the soulmate link, it was coming from inside of him. He had actually grown a conscience.

_How far the great and untouchable Hellraiser has fallen._

Oh Angie, you have no idea.

* * *

Patience.

Humans believed they understood the concept. They advocated freedom of choice, urging their youth to never relinquish their dreams or settle for anything less than their heart's desire. In truth, however, every last one of them was forced to compromise themselves and their aspirations in some respect. Their lives were too pathetically short to wait for decades—centuries, even—for perfection. Feeling the icy breath of Death on the backs of their necks, they hastily mated with the first person that provided them with the slightest inkling of the ever-elusive dream of happiness. They did not know how to restrain their desire, to let it grow inside of them until every fiber of their being was saturated with pure, unadulterated _want_. They did not know, therefore, how it felt to finally slake that unbearable hunger. They could not fathom the ecstasy, the rapture.

Fools. Zarek pitied them almost as much as he despised them. After living as a vampire for over four thousand years, he could hardly believe that he had once been a human. His mortal life was one of weakness, coldness, and starvation, and it was not an experience that he cared to remember. Though he had prayed for death countless times, the gods refused to grant his wish and Zarek had been too cowardly to end it himself. Even though he was considered an old man by the time that he was made into a vampire, he had never truly lived.

On the night he was changed, his maker had said to him, "Pain is not merely an inevitability of life, my son. Existence _is_ pain. It is in the air you breathe, the water you drink, the ground on which you walk. So many people deny it or lament it, but when you accept this and learn to find the beauty in it, you will see that the world around you is breathtaking."

How Zarek had worshipped that man. For years, he'd hung on his every word, believing him to be the wisest being on earth. Rather than raising him up, his maker had taught him how to flourish in the depths of hell and how to revel in physical pain.

Eventually Zarek discovered that breaking one's mind was far more enjoyable than simply breaking their body. When you have a musician in your grasp, instead of feeding from him, why not cut off his fingers and then let him live with the knowledge that his life is effectively destroyed? Why just kill a family when you could force a mother to slit the throat of her child, or a brother to cut the still-beating heart from his sister? By making their greatest fears come to fruition, the power of God is at your fingertips.

His maker had disagreed, chiding him about wasting time and blood. So Zarek had hunted down the vampire's lover—a pretty lamia who had chosen to stop aging at the age of fifteen—and defiled her repeatedly before gutting her. When his maker discovered her body, Zarek had laughed at the tears in the vampire's eyes, shuddered at the sound of his agonized roar, and soaked up all of his anguish as if it were the elixir of life. Then he'd beheaded him.

Even though he been perfecting his game and refining his tastes for centuries, that night was still perhaps the greatest one that he could remember. It was the night that he realized just how powerful he was and how much more powerful he could become. The meaning of life and death became abundantly clear to him for the first time. In many ways, he felt like an addict doomed to spend the rest of his life searching for a fix that would surpass that initial one.

As he paced the floor of the warehouse, waiting for Alexandra to arrive with Lindsay, he believed that he might have finally found it. Tonight he would have in his possession his most beloved slave, her soulmate, and the young girl in whom both Alexandra and Reece saw the best of themselves—the soul that each of them felt they should have. They were connected, the three of them, by bonds that could never be broken. They would feel each other's pain in a way that he had never before dreamed. There would be no end to his game this time.

Eternity began tonight.

The wait was unbearable. Though he was sure that he had firmly planted the knowledge of his location in her mind, Alexandra was taking longer than he'd originally anticipated. So long, in fact, that he was beginning to wonder if perhaps he had overestimated the level of his control over her. He wondered if the witch had been correct in his assertion that Alexandra would run now that Zarek had made contact.

She was different than he remembered. More—open, he supposed. More expressive of her emotions. Less willing to believe that she was responsible for all that had happened to her. It was the witch's doing, of course, and Zarek was glad for it. If she was still the same broken, hollow shell of a girl that she'd been when he had tried to kill her, then he would have no use for her. If she hadn't healed, then there would be nothing for him now to break.

But had she healed more than he had expected? Did she have the strength now to defy him? Part of him almost wished that she did because then when he hunted her down and took her by force, she would fight him. And gods, it would be incredible to feel that fire within her again. At the same time, Zarek knew that if she decided to run with her lover—that strange, fractured vampire who was so infatuated with her—it would likely be a long time before he finally found her.

Those few minutes he spent with her earlier had not taken the edge off his appetite, as he had hoped. Instead, it made him all the more desperate for her. It took all of his determination to keep himself from seeking out her mind so that he would know for sure that she was coming.

_Patience_, he reminded himself. She will be here. Just wait a little longer.

In the mean time, Zarek decided to go back down into the basement to check on his newest fledgling. Reece Cahill was still unconscious, his body hanging limply from the chains that held him shackled to the damp, stone wall. All in all, he had endured the change even better than Zarek had hoped. Some color was returning to the newborn vampire's cheeks and his skin was no longer clammy to the touch. The wounds in his shoulders as well as all of the deep lacerations across his stomach had already healed. It wouldn't be long now before Reece awakened, his body burning with an indescribable hunger the likes of which he had never known. His jaw would ache and his head would throb and he would intuitively know that there was only one thing that could help him: Blood.

The newborn groaned softly, his head lolling slightly before falling forward once again. It seemed as if he was reacting to a sound or a touch and Zarek frowned in confusion. Then understanding dawned on him in the next instant as he too felt the glimmer of Alexandra's presence nearby.

His breath caught in his throat as he realized that she was less than a block away. He nearly dove into her soul right then and there, but somehow he managed to hold himself back. He wanted to see her first—to see the fear in her eyes. It would be better that way.

But wait. Where was Lindsay? He reached out with his mind, but he couldn't feel the little girl anywhere. It seemed that Alexandra had defied him after all.

Slowly, he walked back up to the ground floor of the warehouse. He could feel her coming closer and closer to him and when she reached the door, he telepathically flung it open.

She stood in the doorway, even more ravishing in the flesh than she'd been in his mind. He had forgotten just how lush the curves of her body were; when he had first seen her as a human girl, that feature had almost been enough to deter him from taking her, but now they were as beautiful to him as her azure eyes. Her pale, porcelain skin seemed to glow in the dimness as the cold winter wind blew her spiraled curls back from her face. One of her needle-sharp canines was nervously pressed into her full lower lip so hard that it drew blood and the scent of it was intoxicating.

"_Kyrios_," she whispered on a trembling breath.

Gods, how he loved the sound of that word on her lips. "Alexandra. I knew you wouldn't be able to refuse my invitation. But where is Lindsay?"

She clenched her jaw. "I sent her away."

He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why would you do that?" he inquired. "I know you want Copenhagen as much as I."

"I'm not your slave," she bit out. "Not any more."

Zarek smiled in spite of himself. Alexandra may have disobeyed him, but he had to admit that this boldness in her was exciting. It wasn't something that he had expected to see again. "Is that so?" he asked silkily. "Then why, pray tell, are you here?"

She lifted her chin. "To kill you."

A loud, crass laugh burst from him. Suddenly he did not care that he had lost Lindsay; he could easily find her again later. For now, this game with Alexandra was simply too good to resist. "Perhaps I would be afraid of that declaration if your voice wasn't shaking so badly."

A pang of fear reverberated through her. He felt the vibrations of it as he let his mind dance around hers, prodding and poking, but not yet piercing. Save that for later.

He started to circle her and she stayed rooted to the floor, her eyes cast downward even though her chin was still raised. "You have no weapons, my love," he noted. "How do you expect to kill me?"

"I don't need a weapon," she said softly, almost demurely. "I _am_ a weapon now."

"A Wild Power," he said, his voice bathed in boredom. "I know. I can feel the blue fire heating your blood. It is a loaded gun, true enough, but the fact of the matter is that _you_ are still the shooter. And you don't even know how to pull the trigger."

"Yes, I do. Reece taught me."

Zarek skimmed the surface of her subconscious and she literally jerked back from the contact. Oh, she was not as courageous as she wanted to believe. "No. He worked with you, but even so, whenever you were able to ignite the fire, you never actually knew how you'd done it." He gave her an amused, confidential smile. "And three times out of ten is hardly a success rate that would give me cause for concern."

He moved behind her, pulling her delicate body flush against his own. She was rigid in his arms, but she didn't struggle. Her terror was like honey as he bent his head, letting his lips graze her ear, and he laughed softly. How could she ever be foolish enough to believe that she could stand up to him? She was his child—her every word, her every action was his doing. He had created her and he would always have that power over her.

"Besides," he murmured, "we both know that if you use that fire, the Night World would be here to kill you in a matter of minutes. The fate of the world would be sealed. And your precious soulmate would most likely die, fighting on the losing side of a hopeless war."

"You're lying," Alexandra breathed. "You don't know that. You only know that that is what I'm afraid will happen."

Zarek held his smile, but he was glad that her back was turned to him because he was sure that his irritation was clear in his eyes. It had been so long since he had interacted with someone who shared his telepathic powers—who truly understood its limitations. Most people were so awed by his abilities that they automatically believed his every word was true, and that was a misconception that he often used to his advantage. But Alexandra knew better.

He twisted her around in his arms and held her face in his hands. She had challenged him, so it was up to him to raise the stakes. To put her in her place. "Let's find out, then, shall we?" he suggested.

Her breath stopped as she looked up at him and he could hear her heart racing. "What?"

Doubt was starting to seep into her resolve, he could feel it. He spun his mind around hers, holding her captive in his web. She may know the limits of his power, but he knew hers as well. After systematically breaking her down nearly thirty years, he knew exactly how to manipulate her. "Set me on fire, Alexandra," he dared. "This is what you came for, isn't it? To show me that I have no power over you, that you are not the girl that I created those long years ago. So let's not waste each other's time. Your lip is already bleeding. Figuratively speaking, the gun is loaded. So go ahead and shoot me. Do it."

She stared at him for a moment and then clamped her mouth shut angrily. Biting down hard on her lip, she tried to gather the power inside of her and focus it on him, as her witch had taught her to do. As soon as the power coalesced, like a gust of wind her fear blew it apart.

Zarek chuckled. He touched his finger to the blood on her lip and brought it to his mouth. The taste of her was so different now. There was something elemental about it, something that was reminiscent of the flavor of her soulmate. There was witch blood running through her veins, but it was laced with something older. Something ancient and primal and powerful. And he knew that he had to be careful; one taste was enough to make him ache for more and it would be all too easy to get carried away if he allowed himself to drink from her.

A frown marred her face as she tried once again to summon the blue fire, but she couldn't hold on to the power. It kept scattering away, as he had known it would.

"You can't do it," he said to her. "You can't kill me."

"Yes, I can," she seethed. She dug her fingernails into her palms, believing that she needed to draw more blood.

Zarek gave her a knowing look. He reached down and took her hands in his, holding her palms up while he unfurled her fingers. "That won't help you. Nothing will. You can't kill me because you don't want to do it."

"That's not true."

She tried to break her hands free from him, but he held her fast. "Ah, but it is. Perhaps you believe you want me dead when there are others around—your soulmate, your lover, Lindsay. But it's just you and I now, my love, and you can't lie to yourself. When we are alone together, you remember who you are. You know that you deserve no better than an eternity with me. You know what we have together and you want nothing more."

"No," she whispered, but Zarek knew that he had won. Her confidence had weakened and her will was crumbling.

He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers as he finally allowed himself to fully penetrate her mind. As her essence surrounded him, he could feel her fear, hate, guilt. Her soul was dripping with it and he lapped it up.

Gods, the memory of him had plagued her these last five years. Always lurking in the back of her mind, he cast a shadow over her life that lingered even after she had found her soulmate. She had dreamed of him as often as he had of her and her screams were so earth shattering that it was almost surprising that he hadn't felt their vibrations in all of this time. They were like a siren's call, a desperate plea for him to find her.

_We are together now, my love. _

Panicking at the sound of his voice in her head, she fought him again. Her arms came up around his neck, pulling his head down as she tried to knee him in the stomach, as she had once seen Reece do while he was sparring.

Zarek easily lifted her off her feet, holding her tightly against him. As she shrieked and struggled, a memory flickered inside of her mind. Hastily, she shoved it out of her awareness, praying that he hadn't noticed her slip. She fought him harder, but he knew that it was just an attempt to distract him, to keep him from delving into her subconscious to find what she was trying to hide.

Silly girl.

He dove down into her, feeling out her anxiety as he sifted through her memories until he had uncovered the one that she so badly wanted to stay buried. Concentrating on it, the images began to flash before his eyes.

He saw Alexandra standing outside of the warehouse with Lindsay at her side. "Reece is in the basement," she said. "Go around the side of the building and find some way in. Your mind is still blocked by the spell, so Z—my maker won't be able to feel you there."

"What are you going to do?" Lindsay asked.

"Confront _him_."

"But if he can read your mind, won't he know that I'm here because _you_ know it?"

Alexandra shook her head. "He won't do that right away. He likes to play too much. To draw things out. Hopefully, I'll be able to kill him before he even tries."

The human girl opened her mouth to protest, but Alexandra cut her off before she could speak. "Don't worry about me. Whatever you see or hear, don't come up to help me. Your job is to get Reece out and get as far away from here as possible. Do you understand?"

Zarek wrenched himself out of her mind. Looking down into her blue eyes, he saw the dread there. She knew that he had seen everything. "_Kyrios_, please—"

"You lying whore," he snarled. Then he backhanded her across the face, hitting her so hard that she fell to the side. While she was still dazed and barely clinging to consciousness, he fisted her spiral curls and dragged her to the stairs. "I thought you knew the consequences of trying to trick me, Alexandra, but it seems that you have forgotten. Don't worry, though. I'll remedy that, I promise you."

He let her body slam against every step as he pulled her down into the basement and when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he pitched her into the wall. It was an oafish thing to do, but she always did have a talent for making him so angry that his patience and finesse were superseded by the rash, savage need to hurt her. He hated her for reducing him to this.

In disgust, he turned away from her. As soon as his gaze fell on Reece Cahill, however, he drew up short. He blinked, unwilling to believe his eyes, but the scene before him didn't change. Rage spread through him like wild fire, consuming all of his grand plans until they were nothing but ash.

Eternity be damned. Zarek was going to kill him now.

* * *

Lindsay eyed the small, ground level window. Nervously, she looked up and down the side of the building, but she already knew that she wouldn't find anything. She had already circled the warehouse twice, pulling on every door and trying every window, but they were all locked. There was only one way she was going to get inside: she was going to have to break in.

She had never done anything like this before. What if a policeman caught her? She could go to jail. And if Zarek caught her, he would probably hurt her so badly that she would _wish_ she were in jail. This was just too risky.

But she didn't have a choice. Reece needed her. He was down there suffering through God knows what because she had made the mistake of not trusting him. It didn't matter what happened to her, as long as she got him out of there.

After taking a deep breath, Lindsay wound up and kicked the window as hard as she could. And then she clamped her hand over her mouth to cover her yelp after her foot slammed uselessly into the pane. The glass hadn't cracked, but she was pretty sure that a few of her toes had.

"Aiden made it look so easy," she grumbled to herself. But of course, he was a vampire, so he was probably a lot stronger than she was. She really wished that he were here right now.

_Well, he's not_, her mind snapped. _This is up to you. So stop standing around and find a way to break that window!_

She limped quickly around the back of the warehouse, where she remembered seeing a pile of dirty old bricks. Taking one in both hands, she headed back to the window. After a few good bangs, the glass cracked and shattered.

Lindsay crouched down and waited there for a long moment, just to make sure that no one had heard her. Then she turned over and slid inside, feet first. The window was so narrow that the edges scraped her stomach as she squeezed through. Once she had gotten her arms and head inside, she let herself fall onto the floor.

It was as cold inside the warehouse as it was outside and she shivered as she took in her surroundings. It was almost pitch black, but through the darkness she could tell that she was in a huge, open room that was maybe half the size of the whole building. And it _stank_. She couldn't identify the smell, but the air seemed almost greasy as she slowly walked across the room.

Suddenly she heard a soft, clinking sound behind her and she froze in place. Her eyes were finally starting adjust and when she turned towards the sound, she was able to make out a shape against the wall.

"Reece," she gasped as she hurried over to him. When he didn't respond, she gave his arm a shake. The clinking sound echoed through the room again and she realized that it was coming from a set of chains that held him to the wall. "Hey, Reece."

He still didn't answer.

Lindsay let out a breath and straightened up. She tugged on the shackles that were clamped around his wrists, but they wouldn't budge. The heavy metal chains were locked with an old padlock that was a lot sturdier than it seemed.

Quickly, she went over to the table in the middle of the room and fumbled through the knives and other weapons that were strewn over it. Her stomach turned as her fingers came back wet and sticky with blood, but she forced herself to keep searching until she found a key. She just hoped to God that it was the right one.

Standing up on her tiptoes, she reached for the padlock and was relieved to find that the key fit perfectly. The lock was rusty and her hand cramped as she tried to turn the key, but after a moment, it finally popped open.

Once Reece's wrists were loose, he slumped onto the floor like a rag doll. "Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed as quietly as possible. After pushing him over onto his back, she kneeled down and shook him again. "Reece?"

He groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open as he lifted his head. "Lindsay?"

She was so happy to see him awake that she almost laughed. "Yeah, it's me," she replied. "Are you okay?"

"How did you get here? Did Lex bring you?"

Lindsay nodded.

He let his head fall back tiredly as pain twisted his expression. "Goddess, no," he whispered. Then he looked back at her. "Where is she? Where is Zarek?"

She hesitated. It was her job to get Reece out of this warehouse, but if she told him that Lex was here, he wasn't going to leave. But she didn't know what else to do. "Upstairs, I think."

Reece winced as he turned over onto all fours and slowly sat up. By the time he was on his knees, his breathing was loud and ragged. He pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead, like he was trying to force away a migraine. "That sonofabitch is dead," he hissed.

Lindsay smiled. "You mean she really did it?" she asked excitedly. "How can you tell?"

He lowered his hand and stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Lex," she replied. "She came here to kill Zarek."

"_What?_" Reece snapped.

She flinched at his tone. "You just said that he was—"

"It was a figure of speech," he explained. "What do you mean, Lex came here to kill Zarek?"

Lindsay started to answer, but Reece lifted his hand in a sharp gesture for quiet. Then he cocked his head to the side, as if he was listening for something. "Shit, she's in trouble," he breathed. Grabbing onto the wall, he tried to pull himself to his feet, but his legs were too weak and wobbly to support him. With a grunt, he fell back down to the floor and gasped for breath.

She moved to his side and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. I just..." His words were lost as his eyes moved over her face and drifted down to her throat. He shuddered and swallowed hard. "Lindsay," he said in a strange voice, "you have to get out of here."

"Why? What's the mat—" she started, and then her voice caught as his green eyes flashed in the darkness. They had always been an unnatural color, but now they were glowing like laser beams. For the first time she noticed that his canines were long and sharp. "What happened to you?"

"Zarek," he replied hoarsely. "He changed me into a vampire."

Lindsay pressed her lips together. How awful to have something like that done against your will. It should have been her that was changed, not Reece. Her heart swelled with guilt and admiration. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "I'm not afraid of you. I know that—"

"You don't understand." He captured her hand that was on his shoulder, his grip so tight that it hurt. It seemed like he wanted to scare her away, but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to let go of her. His gaze was fixed on her neck in a way that made her skin crawl in spite of herself.

"You need blood," she realized aloud.

Reece didn't need to reply; she could see his answer in the tremor in his hand, the feverish flush in his cheeks, the intensity of his stare, the way his lips were pulled back from his teeth. He peeled his fingers off her hand and pried his eyes away from her throat to look at her face. "Please go, before I do something..."

There was a loud, high-pitched sound from upstairs—something like a squeal or squeak—and Reece instinctively tried to stand up again. Still, he wasn't strong enough. "Lex," he groaned through clenched teeth.

Lindsay anxiously glanced up at the ceiling and wet her lips. If Lex were really in trouble, then Zarek would probably be down here soon. And with Reece in this vulnerable state, there was no hope of any of them getting away. Unless she did something, they were all in big trouble.

Without pausing to think about it, Lindsay threw her arms around Reece's neck and tipped her head back slightly.

"What are you doing?" he demanded breathlessly. His hands cupped her shoulders, but he didn't push her away.

"Go ahead," she replied. "I know you won't hurt me."

He shook his head. "You're right. I won't hurt you, Lindsay. I'll kill you."

"No, you won't."

"You can't know that. I've never done this before. What if I can't stop?"

Lindsay drew back slightly to look into his eyes and she gave him a small, confident smile. "I trust you, Reece."

He managed to resist for another second before he lowered his head. There was a brief sting as his teeth punctured her throat, but then the pain was swept away by a strange, dizzying rush. It felt like she was on a roller coaster, plummeting down the first, steep hill. Down, and down, and down. Through the ground. Into space. Weightless. Floating. Free.

"Well, well, well," a deep voice said. It sounded familiar, but so far away. "I knew you would make a good vampire. I just hope you left enough blood for me."

She crashed back into reality as Reece shoved her onto the cold floor. She would have cried out, but her voice didn't seem to be under her control. None of her body did. She felt like a puddle of water, spreading over the ground.

"Afraid not," Reece replied coldly. "She'll be dead in a minute. Just like you."

* * *

_Stupid. _

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

_Stupid, weak, selfish, useless bitch._

She had failed. Of course, she had failed. Any idiot would have known right off the bat that there was no hope of her ever defeating him. She would never have the strength or the will. She was just too damn stupid to live, and yet he would never let her die. Not again. This time, she would be his forever.

Lex huddled against the wall, her head feeling swollen and cracked. The taste of blood was in her mouth from when he had backhanded her, but it wouldn't do her any good. He had been right—she didn't really know how to use the blue fire. Without Reece, she couldn't consciously harness the power or direct it. The world was screwed; she couldn't do anything right. She couldn't do anything.

Her maker's laugh, dark and dangerous, penetrated the fog in her head. He was angry in a way that she had rarely seen before. Her betrayal had irked him, but discovering that Reece killed Lindsay sent him over the edge. He liked things neat and controlled and when someone disrupted that, he razed them to the ground.

"Haven't you figured out yet that you can't lie to me?" he said to Reece. "I may not be able to see into Lindsay's mind, but I can still see into yours. And I know that you didn't take enough blood to kill her."

Reece's lips tightened. But really, what had he been expecting? _Kyrios_ would find a way around any obstacle in his path. He would always have the upper hand, always win.

"It doesn't matter anyway," her maker continued. "I have decided that the two of you aren't worth the trouble. I have Alexandra now and she's all that I need. So I think it's past time that you and Lindsay die."

"Let's have at it, then," Reece suggested. His voice was calm and reasonable, but she knew the fury that lay beneath the surface.

And of course, _Kyrios_ knew it as well. He stepped back and pasted a smug smile on his face. "You almost seem to be enjoying being a vampire," he noted. "How did it feel to tear into Lindsay's throat? To taste her blood spilling over your tongue? To feel the power surging inside of you as you stole her life-force ounce by ounce?"

Reece didn't reply, but a tic worked in his jaw. Through the soulmate link, she could feel that he was trying to block out that memory and stay focused on the present moment. But that trick hadn't worked for Lex upstairs, and it wouldn't work for him now.

"You loved it, didn't you?" her maker asked. "And you hated yourself for loving it. You are a healer by nature and yet it felt so natural to be hurting her. The vampire in you reveled in the bloodlust, but the witch in you wouldn't stop screaming.

"This is your existence now. If you kill me, you will spend the rest of your life at war with yourself. And it will only be a matter of time before the battle tears you apart."

Lex felt her lip twitching as her eyes filled with tears. God, he might as well have been talking about her because that was how she felt every time her power took her over. Of course, he had to know that. He was intentionally taking down both her and Reece with the same shot.

Reece lunged at him, catching her maker in the stomach with his shoulder, and they both toppled to the floor. With a deep laugh, _Kyrios_ thrust his feet up, effortlessly kicking his fledgling off of him. Reece landed on his back, but he was up half a second later, ready to attack again.

It was no use. He hadn't really adjusted to his new strength and speed after the change, so his movements were clumsy and awkward. It was as if he couldn't quite find his center of gravity. And he was so easily distracted by the smallest noises that he had never before been able to hear—the sound of blood rushing through the veins of every person in the room, the cacophony of their beating hearts and uneven breath. Not only that, her maker was simply better. His perfect command of his body kept his movements small, quick, and efficient. The instant that Reece tried to punch, her maker was already blocking him and seizing the chance to throw a counter-punch. When the newborn vampire kicked, _Kyrios_ moved like water, dodging the blow so fast that Reece spun completely around.

All in all, he made her soulmate look like a clod.

Lex knew that she should help Reece now, but she couldn't. Her maker's words had coated her skin and hardened into a thick shell of despair, leaving her paralyzed. There was no point in trying to fight him—he had drilled that lesson into her for thirty years and tonight he had done it once more.

This really was Copenhagen all over again—this was exactly how helpless and hopeless she had felt that night. As soon as her maker had gotten Reece and Lindsay under his control, he would most likely force Alexandra to skin the both of them alive, just as she had done to that girl those many years ago. She would cry and scream this time, but inevitably, part of her would probably enjoy it.

_Stupid, sick, disgusting bitch._

Reece was tiring. His movements were becoming more sluggish and laborious with each passing minute. He must have taken enough blood from Lindsay to give him a small burst of energy, but he had already burned through it. She had the sense that he knew how pointless this fight was, that he had known from the beginning that he was going to lose, but he wouldn't let himself give up.

It made it all the more heartbreaking when _Kyrios _somehow pretzeled Reece's arms between them and forced his head down, leaving the newborn vampire open to attack. Then her maker glanced down at Lex and gave her a smile, as if to say, _Are you watching, my love?_

As he moved to knee Reece in the face, however, _Kyrios_ was suddenly pushed from behind. The vampire lost his grip on his fledgling as he pitched forward onto his knees.

Lex slowly lifted her eyes and gaped at Reece's rescuer. It was the last person she had ever expected to see here—or anywhere else, for that matter because he made it clear during their fight that he had washed his hands of her.

Aiden St. Helen stood over her maker, the corner of his mouth turned up in a wry smile that warmed her heart. He glanced at Reece, who had staggered back to rest against the table of weapons, and then turned to the older vampire. "This isn't exactly a fair fight, is it?" he remarked. "You, a centuries old vampire, against one who was made only a few hours ago."

Lex's maker got back to his feet and his laugh rumbled throughout the room. "I should have kept a closer eye on you," he said.

"Yeah," Aiden replied. "With all your power, you should have known that I'm always a wild card."

"True," _Kyrios_ conceded. "Not even your own soulmate saw you coming."

Lex cringed at that comment, afraid that Aiden would blindly lash out. The vampire just shook his head in amusement. "Your psychoanalysis attacks aren't going to work on me, old man. Unlike Alexandra and that asshole—" he nodded to Reece "—I'm not afraid of your power. I worked with a sluttier, more obnoxious version of you for years and I've heard it all."

Her jaw dropped. Lex had never heard anyone speak to her maker like that. She had never imagined that anyone _could_. He always knew what to say to strip you bare, to leave you shattered and bleeding and utterly at his mercy. You had to be crazy to antagonize him like this.

But Aiden was nothing, if not crazy.

_Kyrios_ seemed annoyed and discouraged, but not defeated. Not by a long shot. Impossibly, his black eyes seemed to darken as he stared the other vampire down. "Why are you here anyways, Hellraiser?" he asked. "You know that she doesn't love you. She won't give up her soulmate for you. When this is all over, Reece will have her and you'll still have nothing. You'll still be living on the run, so unbearably lonely that you have to pay hookers to listen to you talk. Except this time, you won't even have those hallucinations of your own soulmate to keep you company. She left you, remember? Body and soul."

"This is all you've got, isn't it?" Aiden countered heedlessly. "An arsenal of words. You're just like Angie. You keep talking because you're afraid that if you fight, you'll lose."

Amazingly, Lex saw blood rushing into her maker's face. He was _furious_; Aiden was actually getting to him.

"I know how to fight," he snapped.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Then you won't mind if I call your bluff."

And with that, they were both in motion.

Alexandra couldn't watch. She knew that _Kyrios_ hadn't been lying; he was an expert at inflicting pain. Her soulmate was still leaning on the table, unable to support his own weight after the beating he had taken. His face was badly bruised and he was holding his ribs as if they were broken. Her maker had easily decimated him and the fight with Aiden wouldn't turn out any different.

A she kept her eyes on Reece, though, she saw his expression change. At first, he seemed as grim and pessimistic as she felt, but after a minute, something like awe lit up his face. He stood up a little straighter, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and through the soulmate link she heard him say to himself, _I'll be damned_.

Unable to contain her curiosity, she turned towards the fight just in time to see Aiden's fist connect with her maker's jaw. Blood blossomed from the older vampire's mouth, spilling down his chin and onto his shirt. He had barely recovered from that blow when Aiden struck again, catching him this time in the nose.

Lex was astounded. _Kyrios_ was losing. Badly. And it turned her world on its head. She had long ago stopped thinking of her maker as a flesh and blood being. To her, he had seemed like an invulnerable monster. A nameless, shapeless fear. A god. But as Aiden riddled him with shots to his body and head, for the first time in her life she saw that her maker was just…a man.

She brought her gaze back to Reece and she was surprised to find a breathtaking brightness in his green eyes that had been missing for months—maybe since they had met. He smiled at her conspiratorially and she knew that he was realizing the truth as well: her maker wasn't some all-powerful being. He was an act, complete with smoke and mirrors. He was a lie that Lex had accepted because she had been too young to know better. And Reece, she was startled to discover, had been too traumatized.

She didn't have time to think about that. Just then, her maker—Zarek—got in a lucky shot to Aiden's gut that knocked the wind out of him and sent him reeling back a few steps. Before she knew what was happening, Reece had vaulted over the table, putting himself between the two vampires. His head finally clear, he was able to throw punch combinations so fast that his arms were nothing but a blur. By the time Aiden had caught his breath, Reece had backed Zarek up against the wall.

Aiden came around and grabbed the older vampire's arms, holding them behind his back. "Get a stake," he said to Reece with a nod towards the weapons table.

Zarek thrashed, but he couldn't shake free. As he grunted and gasped, cursed and cried, Alexandra saw the terror in his dark eyes. Dipping below his surface thoughts, she saw that this was his greatest fear—being helpless. That fear was at the heart of everything he was, everything he had done. For thousands of years, he had victimized others to prove to himself that he would never be a victim. He enjoyed rendering people powerless because he knew that he had no power of his own.

Reece grabbed a stake off the table and went back to Zarek, who paled at the sight of the weapon. As her soulmate drew his arm back, winding up for the fatal blow, Alexandra finally stood up and shouted, "Wait!"

Aiden looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but Reece knowingly turned and held the stake out to her. "It's all you, Lex."

As she gripped the weapon in her hand, Zarek smiled and gained back some of his composure. "You know you can't do it, Alexandra," he purred arrogantly. "You're a part of me. You're my—"

She thrust the stake into his heart.

In shock, her maker looked down at the piece of wood protruding from his chest and then he looked back at her. He tried to say something, but the words died on his lips as his eyes rolled back into his head.

Aiden dropped Zarek's body unceremoniously. Then he stepped over it to come to Lex's left side while Reece stood to her right. Silently, the three of them stared at the lifeless man on the floor. It was hard to believe that this one person had caused so much damage, so much pain.

"Just another vampire," Reece murmured.

"Not any more," Aiden replied.

Lex took a deep breath and smiled in wonder. "Not any more," she agreed.

* * *

_Finally, finally got this posted! I'm sorry for the wait everyone, but as you can see, this chapter was a monster. I decided to get it all out rather than leave you with another torturous cliff-hanger. But don't worry, the story not done yet. Still some aftermath to take care of. :)_

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last part.._

_CalliopeMused: Thank you for your lovely words. I have tried really hard not to tangle the pieces of this story together, which is far easier said than done. I hope I did it again with this part._

_animus.vox: Thanks again! I'm glad you liked the flashbacks._

_incarnated-soul: Hm.. I think you're forgiven for missing chapter 16. :) I'm glad you like my science-y metaphors.. I work in science, so I can't help but throw that stuff in. But yeah, I figured in the last part that it was important to get in more detail about Lex's past.. I wanted to show that she has good reason for her guilt and for feeling powerless, she wasn't really being over-dramatic all of this time. Um, honestly, I did think about sacrificing Aiden, but I just couldn't do it. I love him too much. And I've got plans for him yet._

_GaLaXy 30587: Yay, a new reviewer! Thanks for taking the time to write the review._


	19. Desperate Times

The moment grew awkward more quickly than Aiden had anticipated. One minute, the three of them were staring down at Zarek's dead body as they basked in their triumph, and the next, the effervescent energy in the room dissipated. It felt like Reece and Lex both wanted to move or speak, but out of some misguided sense of decorum, neither wanted to be the first to do it.

As for him, Aiden would have been glad to spend the rest of his life stuck in that moment, knowing that he was part of something. That his existence mattered. That he was living in the world rather than outside of it. He hadn't felt like this since he defected from both Circle Daybreak and the Night World and it was surprisingly nice.

His throat tightened painfully when Reece finally broke the stillness to take Lex's hand, interlacing their fingers. She turned towards her soulmate, offering him her smile while she presented her back to Aiden. "Are you okay?" she asked Reece softly. She ran one hand over his arm and chest. "Are you hurt?"

He smiled at her, gently combing her hair back from her face. "I'll be all right," he replied. "What about you?"

She gingerly touched her cheek with a humorless laugh. "He backhanded me upstairs, but I've had worse."

"Your lip is bleeding," he remarked.

Lex licked at the blood a little sheepishly. "No, it stopped. I tried to use blue fire on him, but I just couldn't get it to work." She shrugged. "I guess I'm grateful for that now because he really wasn't worth the risk."

Reece shook his head in awe, gazing at her as if he had never seen her before. And in a way, he hadn't. With his new preternatural vision, the vampire was seeing for the first time all of the tiny, subtle details of her beauty that Aiden already knew so well. Aiden envied Reece that; he wished that he could wake up to see the world with new eyes.

"You shouldn't have come here for me," the newborn vampire said to Lex.

"How could I not?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, I don't know. It sounds pretty simple to me," he joked. "You could have just _not_ come."

"Right," she scoffed with a smile. "Like you would have been able to stay away if the tables were turned."

Reece looked at Aiden over Lex's head. "I thought I told you to take care of her," he said in a dry, but good-natured tone. "You should have stopped her."

Aiden felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth in spite of himself. It was a rare occasion that anyone spoke to him this affably. Normally, he wasn't very good at this sort of thing, but it was an incredibly generous gesture on Reece's part, given the circumstances, and he couldn't bring himself to brush it off. "Believe me, I tried. She's too damn stubborn."

Lex glanced over her shoulder at Aiden with a happiness in her eyes that he hadn't known she could feel. "I am not," she said, feigning indignation.

"Please," Reece snorted, drawing her attention back to him. "Remember last year when I tried to get you to give up caffeine?"

"I told you that I would if you could give me one good reason," she retorted.

"How about so your hands won't shake all the time?" the vampire suggested.

Lex shook her head. "That doesn't bother me. It keeps me nimble." Then she looked at Aiden again. "Come on, back me up here."

He wanted to keep the conversation going, but he was too stunned by it to speak. In all the time he had spent with Lex, he'd never seen her so light and free. Subconsciously, Aiden had assumed that the way she interacted with Reece wouldn't be very different from the way she interacted with him. He'd thought there would be quiet strain, solid walls, and silence. Not once had he imagined that they would be like this—so giddy and playful. Looking at Lex now, Aiden didn't even recognize her.

Reece cleared his throat, breaking the growing tension in the room. "I'm going to go check on Lindsay." He brought Lex's hand to his lips to kiss the back of her fingers before releasing her.

Aiden frowned as he watched Reece cross the room and crouch down next to the young human girl who was lying on the floor. He hadn't realized that she was even here. In fact, he'd been so angry with Lex when he walked out on her that he had completely forgotten about Lindsay. God, if he hadn't come back here to help kill Zarek, she would be trapped in an inconceivable hell by now and he wouldn't have known or cared.

After a minute of coaxing, Reece was able to rouse her. As soon as her eyes fluttered open, Aiden turned on his heel and rushed up the stairs. He couldn't explain it, but he just didn't want Lindsay to see him there.

He had almost reached the door on the ground floor of the warehouse when Lex's telepathic voice seized him. _Where are you going?_

Almost against his will, he turned to face her. It was dark, but he could easily make out her silhouette as she stood at the top of the stairs with her hand on her hip. _I don't know_, he replied as aloofly as he could. _Out of the city._

She raised an eyebrow at him. _Aren't you going to say goodbye?_

He mimicked her expression and crossed his arms over his chest. _Any particular reason I should?_

Her weary sigh swirled through his head. _You're still mad at me._

_No._ It wasn't even a lie because he hadn't really been mad at her to begin with. If he didn't keep his distance from her, though, he was afraid that he would never be able to leave here, and this was hard enough already.

The light in her eyes dimmed until she looked more like herself. _Well. I want to thank you for coming back._

He shrugged helplessly at her earnestness. The last time someone had really thanked him like this was back when he was working for Circle Daybreak, and he hadn't cared much for the sentiment at the time. Now Lex's gratitude made him feel uncomfortable and self-conscious in his skin. Why were she and Reece being so nice to him?

Silently, he and Lex stared at each other. There didn't seem to be anything left to say and they should have gone their separate ways, but neither of them moved.

_How did you know that Zarek wasn't as invincible as I thought he was?_ Lex finally asked.

_I didn't_, he told her.

To his surprise, a tremulous smile captured her lips. _But you fought him anyways_, she said as she came closer to him.

Aiden wanted to take a step back, but he stayed rooted to the floor. He shrugged again. _What did I have to lose?_

That admission saddened her, he could feel it. As if compelled, she moved even closer so that he could feel her warmth. She was invading his space and the temptation to grab her, pin her against the wall, and ravage her mouth was almost more than he could endure.

_You saved our lives_, she said.

_I didn't do it for you_, he replied harshly.

She stopped moving, seeming stricken. Her quick intake of breath echoed throughout the empty space between them. _Oh, right. I forgot that I'm not worth it._

He clenched his teeth. _What do you want from me, Lex? You want me to tell you that I would do anything for you? You, who are so damn worried about your soulmate overhearing this conversation that you won't dare have it aloud?_

_I'm not worried about him hearing_, she snapped. _It's just that this is the first time in my life that I'm not afraid of having someone else's voice in my head and it's because of you. And I wanted you to know that._

Aiden was startled. He'd known that was the first time she had initiated contact with him and the longest that she had willingly maintained it, but the significance had been completely lost on him. A foreign sensation tore through him and after a moment, he recognized it as shame. It forced his head down as blood rushed into his face, making him wish he were anywhere but here.

_I'm…I'm sorry_. The words felt useless and terribly inadequate. Damn it. Having a conscience was intolerable. How did people live like this?

Lex let out a slow, soft breath. "This was doomed from the start, wasn't it?" she asked him. Without telepathy, her voice sounded so small and distant, even though she was only a few feet away.

"Probably," he agreed. In the end, they were too alike. They only brought out the worst in each other.

She caught his gaze, her eyes burning into his. "I wasn't using you, Aiden," she swore.

"Don't," he said with a sad smile. "Let's not do this. No strings attached, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," she said with a hint of bitterness. "But when we made that deal, we forgot about the one string that neither of us has any control over."

"The soulmate link," he sighed.

She nodded.

Unable to help himself, Aiden moved into her and touched her face. The link hummed, reverberating through his fingers, up his arm, straight to his heart. "So what are you saying, Lex?" he asked. "That you want to leave him to come with me?"

He knew the answer even before he posed the question, but still he found himself holding his breath. When she shook her head ever so slightly, he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "I can't," she whispered. "I left because I thought I was ruining him, but after seeing how wrong I was about Zarek…I need to find out what else I was wrong about." She laughed nervously. "Does that make any sense?"

"Given that I'm biased and more than a little insane, I'm the last person you should be asking," he said.

"I think you understand better than you'd like to admit," she said pensively. "If Genevieve were still alive, wouldn't you want another chance? Knowing what you know now?"

Aiden didn't dare contemplate that. It was pointless. He was sick of what-ifs.

Cupping Alexandra's cheek, he brushed his thumb over her lips. It was wrong and he knew it, but this was the last time he would be able to touch her like this. And honestly, even with a conscience, he was not above making this difficult for her.

"You know," he said softly, "I had a dream yesterday that Eve left me. I was calling out to her and she pointed to something behind me and told me not to look back. When I turned around, you were there."

"Aiden—"

"We were back in the alley," he carried on heedlessly. "You were holding me. I looked up at you and there was something in your eyes that I never knew I wanted to see. And it meant everything." He paused, knowing that he was going to regret this question as long as he lived, but he would never have another chance to ask. "Was I really dreaming that?"

"Aiden—" she whispered, her eyes wide with sympathy.

"Was I?" he demanded.

She bit her lip and shook her head. "No," she breathed. "But—"

"Don't," he said again. "I know the score. I don't need your pity." He just needed _her_, or so he'd thought. The dream had felt like a prophecy, telling him that it was time to let go of the past—to let go of Eve—and find his future with Alexandra. But strangely, her confession didn't warm him as much as he had thought it would.

Lex hesitantly reached up to hold his wrist while he caressed her cheek. "For what it's worth, I know what you are, Aiden. I always have."

It was meant to comfort, but it was the most cutting thing she could have said. Still, he forced himself to smile.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Lex stiffened and Aiden reluctantly let go of her. He barely had time to step away when Reece appeared at the top of the stairs with Lindsay at his side.

"Aiden!" the girl cried excitedly. He stood perplexed as she left Reece and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. "I wish you were here before. I tried to kick in a window like you did to the door of that house, but I think I broke a toe."

He laughed shortly. "You have to push through with your heel. The kick has more power that way."

"So, Lex," Reece spoke up, no doubt trying to stop Aiden from giving a ten year-old advice on breaking and entering. "I know you're not going to want to hear this, but we've got to go down to the Daybreak compound."

"What?" she groaned. "Why?"

The vampire threw a pointed glance at Aiden. "It's a long story, but Karissa and Nick were taken into custody by these Daybreakers from Vermont. I just made a couple of calls and found out that they're being held at the D.C. compound until transportation can be arranged."

"Hold on," she said. "_Nick_ was arrested by Circle Daybreak? Our Nick? Did the apocalypse come while I was unconscious?"

"I told you, it's a long story. We've just got to get down there so I can think of some way to get them out. Not to mention get the charges against me dropped as well." He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. "You think Anton Parish will accept a bribe?"

"Not likely," Aiden snorted. "The man is laced way too tight."

"Tell me about it," Reece grumbled, retrieving his cell phone from his pocket. "Looks like I'm going to have to call Thierry."

This was it. This was the moment that Aiden was supposed to realize that this was no longer his business. He was supposed to bow his head and leave, grateful that Reece wasn't going to turn him in to Circle Daybreak. He was supposed to go back to the lonely, sterile, meaningless existence that Zarek had so succinctly described. The vampire's words hadn't really bothered him earlier, but now as he tried to summon the will to move, he suddenly knew that he didn't want to go back to that life.

He couldn't.

As Reece started to dial, Aiden grabbed his arm. "Wait," he said. "I have a better idea."

* * *

"Hunger strike! Hunger strike! Hunger strike!"

Karissa sat on the floor of her cell and dragged her plastic lunch tray back and forth across the metal bars, creating a clanging racket that echoed through the hall. There weren't many prisoners on this wing—just her, the lamia in the cell across from her, two shapeshifters a few cells down, and three witches at the end of the hall—but she had gotten a few of them to follow her example and the others were so busy yelling at them to shut up that the din was loud enough to make her ear drums bleed. She could only imagine what it was doing to the wolf shifter who was guarding the door to the wing. To be honest, she felt bad for him because the guy was only doing his job, but her demand was so harmless and simple that she couldn't understand why Daybreak wouldn't just agree to it and save everyone a raging headache.

Her uneaten breakfast and lunch were sitting on plates in the corner of her cell, but even from that distance, the scent of the food taunted her. There were eggs, bacon, toast, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, baby corn, and a slice of apple pie. It probably wasn't the highest quality food in the world, but she was so hungry by this point that even the congealed macaroni and cheese clumped next to the chicken looked heavenly.

No, she couldn't give in. She had to stay strong.

"Hunger strike!" she shouted with renewed conviction. "Hunger strike!"

The thick steel door at the end of the hall opened and the noise abruptly stopped as a lamia that appeared to be about thirty years old entered. He was tall, with sandy brown hair, and he was dressed in a rather gorgeous Dolce & Gabbana suit.

Karissa had never seen him before, but the other prisoners clearly knew him. "Hey, Troy," one of the witches jeered as he passed by. She threw a handful of her own mashed potatoes at him, catching him on the shoulder. "Nice suit!"

Everyone on the wing broke into laughter and even the wolf guard cracked a smile. The lamia, however, calmly wiped the potatoes off him and kept walking until he reached Karissa's cell.

"Miss Gigena," he addressed her.

Putting her lunch tray down on the floor, she stood up, trying to hide the way her head was spinning from her low blood sugar. She couldn't afford to let anyone from Circle Daybreak know that she was ready to kill for a chocolate bar. Or a steak. Or a gallon of ice cream. Or a plate of Buffalo wings. Or a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Or a pizza with fresh tomatoes and extra cheese and pepperoni…

_Focus, Karissa!_

Sticking her arm through the bars of her cell, she shook the lamia's hand. "Who are you?"

"Troy Silver," he replied. "Head of Penitentiary Affairs. I understand you are making quite a ruckus down here."

Karissa smiled. "Who? Me?"

The lamia wasn't amused. "I am here to inform you that if you and your friends do not be quiet, I will have a spell cast that will silence you by force."

"Go ahead," she challenged him. "See if I care. You can take my voice, but as long as I have this—" she picked up her tray and banged it against the bars a few times "—the so-called ruckus will continue."

Troy took a step back, wincing as if the sound had personally offended him. "What is it you want?" he asked with exaggerated patience.

"Like I told the witch-bitch who brought me to this hellhole, as well as the human guy at Intake who was overly friendly with his hands, and Wolfie guarding the door over there, I want to see my boyfriend. His name is Nick Camden and he was—"

"I know who he is," the lamia replied. "But that isn't going to happen."

"Why?" she demanded.

Troy gave her a knowing look. "I will not have my prisoners getting together and conspiring to escape. This is why we separated the two of you in the first place."

She snorted. "He and I don't need to escape. We'll be out of here soon enough anyway."

"I very much doubt it."

"Doubt it all you like. In the mean time, I guess I'll have to think of some way to keep myself busy." She raked the tray across the bars again.

"Fine," Troy said. "Then perhaps I'll have a spell cast to put you to sleep. Or I'll have you taken down to solitary confinement on the twenty-fifth floor."

"Then perhaps when I get out of here," she replied, imitating his huffy tone, "I will call up every Daybreaker I know and tell them _exactly_ how I have been treated here. I will tell them how I was starved and beaten and molested—"

"None of which is true," the lamia argued.

Karissa gave him a bright, guileless smile. "I'm a really good liar, you have no idea. And I'll have all of these prisoners backing me up, won't I guys?"

"Damn right!" the vampire in the cell across the hall shouted.

"You still won't have any proof, Miss Gigena. We have cameras in here."

"They can only see the hallways, not inside the cells," she pointed out. "So you can't prove that it didn't happen."

Troy seemed flustered and Karissa had the feeling that he was getting close to his breaking point. "No one will believe you and a bunch of convicts over me."

"Maybe, maybe not. But I don't think this compound needs any more bad publicity after what happened here last year, do you?"

The lamia gaped at her. "How do you know about that?"

"Oh, I'm willing to bet that I know more about it than you. I know that the war is coming and people are cracking," she repeated Reece's words. "Daybreak can't afford to have any of its members doubting the sincerity of its principles. And a scandal like mine—true or not—is bound to have people talking."

Troy opened and shut his mouth angrily, his face turning a dark shade of red. In the end, he just sighed, "I think I hate you."

Karissa laughed. "I know. And I sympathize, I really do. Now let me see my boyfriend."

After glaring at her for another moment, he turned to the wolf shifter. "Thomas, open the door, please."

Cheers filled the wing as the bars slid open. Karissa grinned at the other prisoners and took a small bow. "Thank you, everyone. You're too kind."

Irritated, Troy grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. "Hey, easy on the merchandise," she warned, swatting at his hand.

"Police brutality!" one of the witches shouted. "We saw that!"

Ignoring them, Troy led her out of the wing and into a small conference room next to the elevator. "Stay here," he ordered. "I'll get Nick. And don't try anything—we _do_ have cameras in this room."

As the lamia locked the door behind him, Karissa took a deep, anxious breath. Biting her lip, she began to pace. "It's okay," she whispered to herself. "He's okay. He'll be here soon."

She hadn't seen Nick since the fight at Lex's townhouse when the Vermont Daybreaker, Mina, hit them both with what felt like a lightening bolt. It had knocked Karissa out and when she came to a few minutes later, she'd been face down on the floor, her hands cuffed behind her back. Nick had been lying next to her, still unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head wound. Then the Daybreakers had hauled her up, kicking and screaming, and shut her in one car while they stuffed her boyfriend into another.

No one would tell her if Nick was all right or where he'd been taken. After the stories Reece had told her about this compound, Karissa feared the worst.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Troy came back in the room with Nick following close behind. She practically shoved the lamia out of the way as she ran up to her boyfriend and threw her arms around his neck.

"Hey, baby," he said as he held her close. "I heard you were causing some trouble."

She jerked back and examined his forehead. There was no cut. No blood. Not even a bruise. "They healed you?"

"Of course we did," Troy snapped. "We're Circle Daybreak, Miss Gigena."

"Buddy, I don't even know what that means any more," she replied.

The lamia shook his head in disgust. "You have five minutes. I'll be right outside."

Once they were alone, Karissa brushed her fingertips over Nick's forehead again as tears welled up in her eyes. "I was so scared," she whispered. "No one would tell me anything. It was just like the night at the hospital after you were attacked. I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"I'm fine, Kar," he assured her. "Really, it was just a scratch."

"Good," she sniffled. "Because you can't die on me, Nick. Ever. Understand?"

He smiled. "Yeah. And the same goes for you."

"Deal." She sighed in relief and for the first time, she realized how exhausted she was. Tiredly, she sat down on top of the conference table and tugged Nick down next to her. "So where are you being held?"

"Just one floor down," he replied. "And the entire wing can hear your chants and banging through the ceiling."

"Really?"

Nick nodded. "I never thought the day would come that you would give up food for any reason," he said dryly.

"Well, desperate times and all of that," she replied. "I just had to see you."

Something in his expression changed. He had been smiling at her, playing with a lock of her hair, but suddenly he looked down at her with such intensity in his hazel eyes that it stole her breath. Cupping the back of her neck, he kissed her softly, pressing her body tightly against his. When they finally broke apart to take a breath, he murmured against her lips, "Marry me."

Karissa's heart stopped and her eyes snapped open. She couldn't have heard that right. The stress and hunger must be making her delirious. Yes, that had to be it.

Very slowly, she drew back so that she could see his face. "What did you say?"

The words came again, clearer and more insistent this time. "Marry me."

She scowled and gave his chest a hard shove. He skidded back on the table and looked at her in shock, but she cut him off before he could speak. "Nicholas James Camden, I haven't slept in two days, I haven't showered since we left Montreal, and I haven't eaten in a freaking eternity—"

"It's been sixteen hours."

"Whatever." She pointed a finger at him threateningly. "I am tired and dirty and _starving_ and this is not the time to be screwing with me. I will kick your ass, I swear to god."

Nick got up off the table and stood before her. Taking her hands in his, he said, "I'm serious, Karissa. You're an incredible woman, my best friend, and the only girl on earth who would try to incite a prison riot just to see me." He smiled ruefully. "And you've got to be the only girl who would threaten a guy with bodily harm when he's trying to propose.

"I love you," he professed. "Kar, I love you with all of my heart and soul, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So please, will you marry me?"

She sat there for another second as his words sank in and then she launched herself up into his arms. "Yes!" she cried. "Hell yes!"

He kissed her hard, his fingers sliding into her hair to hold her lips against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, fisting the fabric of his shirt at his shoulders.

"You know," he said, pulling back slightly. "You promised me a conjugal visit."

Karissa smiled mischievously. "I don't think Troy would appreciate it if he walked in on that, baby."

"Good," he growled passionately, leaning in to kiss her again.

She whined loudly in protest when she heard the door of the conference room open. "It has _not_ been five minutes!" she snarled as she turned around.

But it wasn't Troy standing in the doorway. It was Reece.

"Cahill," Nick greeted him. "You here to spring us or join us?"

He gave the witch a wry smile. "Just call me your knight in shining armor."

As he spoke, Karissa noticed the sharpness of his canines and the new eerie light in his eyes, and a cold shiver ran down her spine. "Oh my god," she gasped. "You're a vampire."

Reece looked away from her. "Zarek," he said in a husky voice.

Nick stepped forward to examine his friend more closely. "How is that possible?" he asked. "You're twenty-four."

"I don't know," he replied as he moved back to avoid Nick's scrutiny. "Zarek was almost five thousand years old. I guess his blood packed a punch."

Karissa held up a hand. "Wait. He _was_ five thousand?"

"He's dust," Reece nodded.

"Sweet!" she exclaimed. "So where's Lex?"

"She's upstairs in the infirmary with Lindsay. They're both fine, but Lindsay…lost some blood," he said vaguely. "I thought she should get checked out before we take her home."

"How did you get us out of here?" Nick asked. "Did you have to call Thierry?"

"Actually, no. I made a deal with Anton directly. He agreed to release you as well as speak to the director of the Burlington office about having all the charges against us dropped."

The witch eyed his friend. "And what did you give him in return?"

"Aiden St. Helen," Reece replied. "Anton has been itching to get his hands on him for a long time."

"You nabbed Hellraiser?" Karissa asked in disbelief. "Damn, that is seriously impressive."

He gave her a tight smile. "I wish I could take credit for it, but it was Aiden's choice."

Nick frowned. "He turned himself in? Are you sure this isn't some kind of trick? He did something like this before."

"Lex can see into his mind, and she swears that he doesn't have any ulterior motives," he assured him.

"What are his motives, then?"

Reece shrugged. "I think he was just tired of running."

"Well, remind me to send him a thank you card," Karissa said. "But right now, can we please get the others and go? We've got some celebrating to do."

The vampire shook his head. "Celebrating Zarek's death?" he chided her sarcastically. "How very un-Daybreaker of you."

Karissa grinned up at Nick. "No, we've got something else to celebrate."

Reece looked back and forth between the two of them, cocking his head to the side, and she realized that he was reading their thoughts. It was a pretty creepy sight. "Congratulations," he said. "I guess Jase won the pool."

Nick gave him a curious look. "What pool?"

"Oh, the rest of the team and I placed bets on when you were going to propose."

Karissa rolled her eyes. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"How much?" Nick asked.

She punched his stomach lightly. "Quiet, you."

The witch draped his arm over her shoulders as they walked out of the conference room together. "Man, we're not even married yet and you're already abusing me."

It wasn't until they reached the elevator that Karissa noticed that Reece wasn't with them. She went back into the room and found him staring off into space as if he was in a trance.

"You okay, Cahill?" she asked him.

He seemed startled. "Yeah. Sorry, it's just…things are louder now. Noises, people's thoughts. It's easy to get lost in it."

There was a quiet sort of grief in his voice that worried her. With a frown, she went to his side and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking. This must be hard," she said sympathetically. "I know how much being a witch meant to you."

"It's okay," he replied a little too quickly. "I've still got some of my power. Plus, I'm faster now. Stronger. And I'll be young and pretty forever. It's the best of both worlds."

He was lying. The words didn't even sound like his own. He wasn't acting like the cold, curt person that he had been over the past few months, but he still wasn't himself. She had the feeling that something had happened with Zarek—something beyond the obvious. She was about to question him further, but Nick came up behind her and squeezed her hand, shaking his head slightly.

Sighing, she nodded in silent agreement. Maybe it was better to give Cahill some time and space to get used to the change. If he was still acting strangely after that, though, she was going to confront him. If she had learned anything over these past few days, it was how bad things can get if you let them fester.

Karissa gently tugged Reece's arm. "Come on," she said. "Let's make like a leaf and get the hell out of here. I need to eat before I keel over."

* * *

_Sniffle. Only one more chapter to go. Thanks to everyone for reading and review on the last chapter!_

_GaLaXy 30587: Thanks so much for the little cheer. I was very happy to see Zarek dead as well. I had been waiting for months to kill him off!_

_enchantednight84: Thank you! Mwah!_

_incarnatedsoul: So if you could summarize your opinion on the last chapter in one word, what would it be? Hehe. It's all good, I love being called amazing, even though I soooooo don't deserve it. But I love you, too!_


	20. Second Chances

The stars were beautiful. As a witch, Reece had only been able to see the major constellations through the light pollution in Washington, but as a vampire, he could see a myriad of stars glittering like gems encrusted in the night sky. Staring up at the heavens from the front steps of the Daybreak compound, he felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe being a vampire wasn't so bad after all.

Inheritance seemed to be as unpredictable in vampires as it often was for humans. Although he and Lex shared the same maker, he wasn't nearly as sensitive to temperature as she was. Reece was aware that the air drifting over his skin was cold, but it didn't seep into his bones. And as far as he could tell, his new telepathic abilities were pretty standard. The surface thoughts of nearby humans whispered through his mind incessantly, making his brain itch in an odd way. It took conscious effort to block them out now, but the Daybreakers assured him that with enough practice, it would become second nature.

Behind him, the door to the compound opened and he turned to see Lindsay coming out of the building. When he'd brought her in, she had been so pale, suffering from anemia due to blood loss, but the witches in the infirmary had healed her, and now her cheeks were rosy once again.

"Where are Nick and Karissa?" he asked as she sat down next to him on the steps.

"They're coming," she replied. "Karissa wanted to stop at the vending machine to get some snacks for the plane."

Reece rolled his eyes and laughed. "Incredible. She just had a four-course dinner and she's still hungry. The girl is a bottomless pit."

"Are you sure you can't fly up with us?" Lindsay asked.

"I wish I could, but your kidnapping has gotten a lot of press up in Vermont. The police are looking for me, and thanks to the people who saw us outside the church they have a pretty good idea of what I look like. It's just too risky." Then he added hastily, "But don't worry. Nick and Karissa will get you home safely."

The little girl nodded sadly. "The police are going to ask me about you."

"I know," he sighed. "And I hate asking you to lie, but you can't tell anyone about the Night World. Humans aren't supposed to know that it exists; it could put your life in danger."

"No one would believe me anyway," she said with a weak laugh.

"It would probably be easiest to tell them that you don't remember anything. They're going to ask you a lot of questions, over and over again, and if you try to make something up, you could get tripped up in the details."

"Okay."

He looked down at her to find that she was biting her lip—a habit that she seemed to have picked up from Karissa—and it occurred to him that he was probably asking too much of her. It would be difficult enough to lie to her family and friends, but to hold up under the scrutiny of a police detective could very well be impossible.

Then Lindsay lifted her head and the determination he saw in her eyes reassured him. This was the girl who had come to save him from the devil when she could have run home. The same girl who had literally put her life in his hands, trusting him even when he hadn't trusted himself. She had helped him remember what it meant to have faith and right now, Reece had faith in her. She would protect him with as much dedication as he would her.

"I'm never going to see you again, am I?" she asked him. Her voice cracked as tears filled her eyes.

He let out a slow breath, his eyes automatically fixing on the two pale scars on her throat. The scent of her blood permeated through the air, tempting and tormenting him.

_How did it feel to tear into Lindsay's throat? You loved it, didn't you? And you hated yourself for loving it. You are a healer by nature and yet it felt so natural to be hurting her. The vampire in you reveled in the bloodlust, but the witch in you wouldn't stop screaming…_

Reece shook his head, banishing Zarek's voice from his mind. That bastard was dead and gone and he had no power over him any more. He'd never really had any in the first place. There were hundreds of half-breeds in Circle Daybreak and most of them were at peace with themselves. One day, he would be, too.

Still, his voice was unsteady as he answered Lindsay. "It would probably be better for you if you didn't."

She sniffled loudly. "But why?"

"Because then you could forget about all of this and go on with your life."

"But I don't _want_ to forget it," she protested. Her whine actually made him smile because it was just so childish. This entire ordeal hadn't stolen too much of her youthful innocence and that was a miracle for which he would never cease to be grateful. "You're the best person I've ever met and I don't want to forget that there are people like you in the world—people who care more about others than they do about themselves."

"I wouldn't go that far," he murmured. Almost everything he'd done over the past year and a half had been driven by selfishness.

"I watch the news with my dad every night," she said, "and all they ever talk about is the awful things that happen. And now that I know about the Night World, everything seems worse than I thought. I can't just spend the rest of my life praying that the world will change. I want to help." Then she added a little sheepishly, "I want to be like you."

Goddess, no. She couldn't be asking him this. She had seen first-hand how dangerous his life was. Very few people who got caught up in the battle between the Night World and Circle Daybreak had the option to walk away, but she did, and he was not going to let her get sucked back in because she had a crush on him.

The images flashing through her mind, however, didn't have anything to do with a silly crush. She was thinking about murder, theft, war, starvation, suffering, and the terrible violence that had plagued this world since its creation. She was thinking about the look on Reece's face when he bartered his life for hers. The subtle tremor in Aiden's voice when he offered to surrender so that Reece could go free. The depth of fear and strength of conviction in Lex's eyes when she decided to save her soulmate instead of running away. She was thinking about her shorn hair, thirty-nine lashes, and a crown of thorns. She was thinking about crucifixion. Resurrection.

Sacrifice.

His throat tight, Reece reached into his coat pocket for a scrap of paper and a pen. Knowing that he would one day regret this, he wrote down his cell phone number and handed the paper to her. "Give it some time. Finish school. Then if you're still interested, call me."

Clutching the paper in her hand, she threw herself at him, her smile so bright that it hurt. He hugged her hard, fisting his hands against her back. Goddess, he was going to miss her.

"Aw, how cute," Karissa cooed as she and Nick walked out of the compound.

Reece lifted his head and forced himself to let go of Lindsay. "Hey guys. Is it time for you to go?"

Karissa nodded. "The flight doesn't leave until midnight, but God forbid Mr. Punctual over here—" she gestured to Nick "—arrives at the airport with less than three hours to spare."

"So, if I'm Mr. Punctual," the witch said thoughtfully, "doesn't that make you the future Mrs. Punctual?"

"Oh no," she groaned dramatically. "I _really_ didn't think this through."

Nick put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Well, you're stuck with me now, baby."

Reece smiled at them both, even as a small ache formed in his chest.

"So Cahill, you're not heading out tonight, are you?" Karissa asked.

He cleared his throat. "No, I'm way too tired to drive now. Anton is letting me and Lex stay the night and we'll leave tomorrow."

"Okay. We'll see you back in Montreal, then."

After hugging his teammates goodbye, Reece gave Lindsay one last hug as well.

"Thank you," she said softly as she pulled away. "For everything."

He gave a short laugh at that. "Thank _you_."

As soon as the three of them headed off to the metro station, he turned and went back inside the compound, a heavy sense of resignation settling on his shoulders. It was time to talk to Lex. Since they had killed Zarek early that morning, they had smiled at each other, laughed and joked, ultimately holding one another at a distance. It was familiar and comfortable, but it couldn't last.

Anton had given them the same room that Reece had stayed in the last time he was here. The idea had appalled him at first, but as he took the elevator down, he realized that this actually felt right. This was where everything had started, and one way or another, this was where it would end.

He entered the room tentatively and found his soulmate curled up on the sofa in a fluffy bathrobe. Her face was flushed from a hot shower, her spiral curls still damp, and she was staring off into space, lost in her thoughts.

"Hi," he said quietly as he closed the door behind him.

Her eyes snapped into focus and she looked at him almost shyly. "Hi," she replied. "Did everyone leave?"

Reece sat down on the large coffee table across from her. Normally she felt more comfortable talking to him when he was at her side, instead of looking into her eyes, but they had done things the easy way for too long now. He wanted to see her face this time. "Yeah. Just now."

She seemed a little solemn as she nodded. A few locks of her hair fell into her eyes.

He leaned in to tuck her hair behind her ear. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," she answered. "I was just—I have this strange feeling. Sort of like everything is different, but still the same. Zarek's dead and I'm free, but I'm still…me."

Reece was surprised. He had posed the question merely to test the waters, to see how resistant she would be to having a real conversation; her candor was completely unexpected.

What was even more astounding was how well her words described what he himself was feeling. Discovering that Zarek was just another vampire and finally watching him die had been liberating, and yet Reece still wasn't entirely free from the hate that had been plaguing him for so long. It clung to him like an air of sickness after the fever had passed.

Some things took time, he supposed. Or maybe it was just a testament to the fact that his angst had very little to do with Zarek after all.

"So many years," Lex breathed, shaking her head. "My memories haven't changed, but I don't know how to feel about them any more."

"I know," he said, taking her hands in his. The soulmate link opened between them, allowing him to feel her awe and confusion. Letting her feel his.

"Yeah, I guess you would. I wasn't the only one traumatized, was I? Everything I felt, you felt, too."

"Every time I touched you," he admitted hoarsely.

She looked away, blinking away tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes. "You never said anything," she whispered.

"I thought you would blame yourself and shut down on me."

"So you shut down on me instead."

"Not intentionally," he swore. "At least, not at first."

"When did this even start?" she asked. "How did you get his name?"

"Angie."

"Angie," she repeated dazedly. Her eyes glazed over for a brief moment as she thought about that. "That's what the exchange was about just before you killed her?"

Reece nodded. "You told me that she had ripped some details from your mind. I knew you were lying about not knowing his name."

"I only said that I never knew his _real_ name," she corrected him. "He used a lot of names over the years."

"It was still a lie by omission."

Anger flared in her blue eyes. "Don't lecture me about honesty, Reece. Not when you've been lying to me since the day we met."

He bowed his head and stared at their intertwined fingers, wishing that she were wrong, but knowing that she was right.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked.

He shrugged helplessly. Since the day he had started his search for Zarek, he had told himself that she didn't deserve to be burdened with it. He hadn't known how long it would take to track the vampire down and it wouldn't have been fair to put her through all of those years of frustration and disappointment. It was a perfectly legitimate explanation, but he knew now that it was complete bullshit.

"I was ashamed."

Lex shuddered, as if she was stifling a sob. "Of me?" she asked.

He looked up at her, gazing mercilessly into her eyes as he squeezed her hand, hoping she could feel how much pain that question brought him. "No," he said passionately. "Don't ever think that, Lex. _Ever_."

Another tremor racked her and she pressed her lips together, trying to hold on to some semblance of self-control. "Then, what?"

"I was ashamed of _myself_." He paused for a moment, unsure of how to explain this to her. He hadn't even put it into words for himself yet. "The first time I touched you and saw what Zarek did to you, I snapped."

"I remember," she replied. "You ran out of the room."

"Yeah. I felt like I was…choking on hate," he said lamely. "I went to get some air and I thought that I calmed down, but I never really did. The hate was still there and I didn't know how to handle it. The only thing I could think about was killing Zarek."

"You didn't think I would understand that?" Lex asked incredulously.

Reece ignored her question, needing to get this all out. "It kept feeding back on itself. The more time I spent hunting him, the more hate I felt, the more I needed to kill him. It wasn't right, but I couldn't help it. I lost myself, little by little, and I didn't want anyone to know."

"Right," his soulmate said acidly. "I guess it would be a cold day in Hell before you ever let anyone see that you're vulnerable. Especially me."

He looked at her in shock. "_That_ was the part I thought you would understand. I've had to fight you for every last thing that I know about you."

"Exactly!" she cried. "All that talk about trusting you, about secrets only holding as much power as we give them, about the pointlessness of life if you can't share it with someone. You didn't believe any of it."

"I did," he argued. "I still do. But that doesn't make it any easier for me. And Goddess knows that you didn't push me for anything."

"I tried," she professed, "but I barely knew where to start. You know I'm not good at this."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You're doing fine right now. You could have pushed if you wanted to, but you were too scared of what you would find. Face it, Lex. One of us had to be the stable one and that was me by default."

As her lips parted, her stricken gasp slicing through the resounding silence, Reece realized what he had said. She let go of his hand and got up off the couch, her knee brushing against his as she pushed past him.

"I'm sorry," he struggled to say. "I wasn't—"

Her face partly shielded by her hair, she gestured for him to stop. "Do you remember the last time we were in this room?" she asked in a low voice. "It was right after you killed Angie, after everything was finally over. I came in and I found you standing right over there, packing your bags. You were so cold and closed off, but all I had to do was make you look at me and you fell apart. You were crying in my arms, clinging to me for support, letting me comfort you. No one's ever put that much trust in me before." She smiled sadly. "It was the moment that I knew I loved you."

He couldn't speak through the lump in his throat. This was the first time that she'd said she loved him, but the words were spoken with such regret that they broke his heart.

Lex looked back at him, a tear slowly trickling down her cheek. "We had that moment," she whispered. "What happened to us, Reece? Why are we so afraid of each other?"

Swallowing hard, he said, "Because we're scared that if we try, we won't be enough for each other."

"I know why I would think that," she said. "But why in the hell would you?"

He wondered if she already knew, if her power was drawing the truth up from the depths of his soul, because although none of this had ever occurred to him before, it fell from his lips like a practiced confession. "The D.C. mission changed me," he told her. "Finding you changed me. I fucked everything up. Lost people I cared about. And I almost lost you."

"That wasn't your fault," she said. "None of it was."

"That's debatable," he returned. "It doesn't really matter now. What _matters_ is how I reacted to it all."

Lex tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"The spell that I did on Angie was illegal. She suffered when she died, more than anyone deserves to suffer—except that I didn't believe that at the time. I…enjoyed it. And that wasn't something I ever thought I would be capable of."

He shook his head in frustration and moved to stand before her. "When we met I told you that I didn't kill for fun, I didn't torture, and I didn't hate. The next day, none of that was true."

"You thought you would hurt me?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "But everything I had believed about myself was a lie, and the person I was turning out to be, I didn't like. And whenever I was with you, I felt the disconnect. I couldn't take it."

She was quiet for a minute, looking at him curiously. "That's the real reason you went after Zarek, isn't it?" she finally asked.

Reece nodded. "I think I wanted him to know that you were alive so that I could save you from him. It felt like the only way I could save myself."

Alexandra caught his eyes and waited a beat, making sure he was paying attention before she spoke. "But you were saving me," she said. "Just by being with me and helping me face the past so that I could finally move on from it, you were saving me."

He tried to smile, but it fell apart. "Really?"

She let out an exasperated breath, as if she couldn't believe he didn't already know this. "Yes. Those first few months we were together was the first time in my life that I actually felt alive.

"When you shut me out," she went on, "I started to slip back down. The fear came back. The nightmares. It just got worse and worse until—"

"Aiden." He blurted out the name tactlessly, but it had to be done. His soulmate had been unusually open with him tonight, but Reece had the feeling that her relationship with Aiden wasn't something that she wanted to discuss with him. If he didn't bring it up, she never would.

She scrubbed away the remnants of her tears with the back of her hand—a simple diversion to hide the way her cheeks reddened. "I didn't leave you for him. I left for _you_, so you could be…yourself again. He and I just crossed paths."

"I know," he replied. "I'm not angry with you; I think I understand what happened. But tell me the truth here, Lex. Do you love him?"

"No."

The answer was spoken so earnestly, her gaze easily meeting his, but there was a slight hitch in her voice that she couldn't suppress. She was probably hoping that he would mistake it for breathlessness or vehemence, but he knew her too well. He could feel her reluctance to say another word for fear that she would give away anything more. "But you _could_," he surmised.

To her credit, she didn't try to deny it. She knew that they were beyond that now. "Yes."

He ran his fingers through his hair, barely containing the urge to rip it out. "What's stopping you?"

She shrugged, turning so that she was leaning against the arm of the couch. Buying for time. "It would be a disaster," she said. "He and I both know it."

Reece laughed bitterly. "It doesn't seem like you and I have done much better."

She said nothing, but her pulse quickened and her body went rigid, as if she were bracing herself for a blow. Her head was bowed and fingernails were digging into the suede arm of the couch.

That told him everything that he needed to know.

He moved into her, placing his hands on top of hers. Even though she was blocking the soulmate link, he knew what she was feeling. It was exactly what he had felt when he found her with Aiden in that alley. "Lex."

Impossibly, she stiffened even more until she seemed like stone under his touch. Her chest stopped moving; she was holding her breath.

"Look at me, Lex," he pleaded softly.

Still staring down at the floor, she shook her head furiously.

He almost laughed at her stubbornness, but he didn't want to scare her away. "Please."

Very slowly, she lifted her chin, but none of the tension left her body. She was holding everything firmly in check, locking away her tears, her breath, her emotions. It might have been a corpse looking back at him, with her skin so cold and her eyes so empty.

Silently, he held her gaze, waiting for her pupils to suddenly spring open as her power flared to life. When it finally happened, he cupped her cheeks in his hands, feeling her jump at the contact, and he refused to let her look away. He offered himself to her, letting her find all the answers she needed, silently promising her that his heart and soul forever belonged to her.

Taking a quick gasp of air, she shot an arm around his neck and dragged his lips down to hers. There was desperation in the kiss. Hope and despair. His fingers slid into her hair as she pressed herself against him with a brazenness that made him moan deep in his throat.

Her passion always scorched him, but he knew what fueled the fire, so he forced himself to slow down. He brushed his lips against hers, gentling her, calming her down, until she reluctantly released him.

"I love you, Lex," he whispered. "I should have told you a thousand times over by now."

Her eyes were as dark as twilight and her smile was content—almost dreamy. "But you did," she assured him. "I know you did."

"I don't want us to be afraid any more," he said. "Please, just tell me that I'm enough. Tell me that I make you happy."

She kissed him again, with less urgency, but more feeling. "You're the only happiness I've ever known. I love the person you were, the person you are, and whoever you're going to be."

His heart swelled in his chest, a blissful ache that he hoped would never fade. Reece took her hand and lay down on the couch, pulling her down with him until she was draped over him with her head resting on his chest. He stroked her hair, holding her against him and for the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt relaxed. At peace. In love.

He had almost drifted off to sleep when he felt Lex stir. "Hey, Reece?" she murmured.

"Hmm?"

"About tomorrow…"

He lifted his head slightly to look at her, but he could only see the top of her head. "Do you not want to go back?"

"No, it's not that," she said. "It's just…I was wondering if we could maybe fly up."

"You want to fly?" he asked in surprise.

She turned slightly, letting him see her smile. "Well, I've already faced a few dozen fears today," she said lightly. "Might as well keep going."

Reece chuckled and kissed her forehead, finally understanding why destiny had led them here, to this moment. This was their chance to start again, to leave this place as they should have left it last year—free and open, with no fears or secrets lodged between them. Trusting in fate, in the soulmate link, in each other.

"Might as well," he agreed.

* * *

Aiden had forgotten what a smug sonofabitch Anton Parish could be. Over the past several hours, the lamia had taken great pleasure in hand-cuffing him, searching him, questioning him, and making pathetic attempts at goading him into violence so that he would have an excuse to hit him. Even though Aiden didn't rise to it, Anton seemed only mildly disappointed; there would be time enough for that later. A veritable eternity, in fact.

As they rode the elevator down to the twenty-fifth underground floor, encircled by eight shapeshifter guards, the compound director's self-satisfied grin was still firmly in place. "We aren't taking any chances this time," Anton told him. "You'll be kept in solitary confinement and no one will be allowed in the cell under _any_ circumstances.

"Your meals and blood bags will be delivered through a slot on the cell door. If you become ill, I suggest you pray to the Fates to spare your life because there will be no medical assistance. And should you choose to do us all a favor and hang yourself with your bed sheets, we will wait until the flesh rots off your bones before we bother to cut you down. Do you understand me?"

Aiden shrugged as casually as possible with his hands cuffed behind his back. "Your policies on amnesty and civil treatment of the enemy have taken a turn for the worse since I left," he noted. "Are you still _that_ angry with me for making a fool out of you—twice?"

Anton glared at him, his eyes seeming large behind the thick frames of his glasses, and Aiden nearly laughed. He knew that there was nothing wrong with the lamia's eyes; the glasses were simply an accessory that Anton habitually wore to make him seem older and more intimidating. "My orders come directly from Thierry Descouedres."

"Naturally," he replied. "If it were up to you, you would have executed me on sight. Right?"

The director's smirk sharpened. "Was that what you were hoping for when you turned yourself in?" he inquired. "Has the guilt finally become too much for you to stand?"

"You forget," Aiden said, his cold, monotone voice betraying none of the pain that speared his gut. "A monster like me is incapable of feeling guilt."

Anton turned to face him, eyeing him carefully. "Then why are you here?"

Because he was a fool. Because when he was fighting at Reece's side he had found something inside of himself that had been lost along with Eve. Because Lindsay had asked him if he was sorry, and she had cheerfully cried out his name while she threw her arms around his waist. Because Lex had expected nothing of him. Thought nothing of him. Had let him go without the slightest hesitation. Because he had been dead for so long and he needed to do something—affect something—to prove that he was still alive.

Because he was insane.

"Merely repaying a debt," he managed to reply.

Anton studied him for another moment and Aiden shifted his weight uncomfortably, suddenly concerned that the lamia might have heard his thoughts. Thankfully the elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened, saving him from the compound director's probing gaze.

The entourage entered the hallway and turned right, leading the new prisoner down to a cell at the northeast corner of the floor. Anton withdrew a key from his suit pocket and inserted it into a lock on one side of the door while one of the guards did the same to the lock on the other side. They counted down and turned their keys simultaneously to disengage the locks. The guard pulled the heavy door open and then he pushed Aiden forward onto his knees in the cell, not bothering to take off the handcuffs.

"I hope the room is to your liking," Anton said pleasantly from the doorway, "because you are never going to leave it."

"Don't try to be sarcastic, Anton," Aiden suggested, keeping his back to the lamia. "You can't pull it off."

The compound director stepped inside, lowering his head until his mouth was near Aiden's ear. "You sicken me, Hellraiser," he murmured. "You know, there are times that I am grateful that Genevieve is dead and she doesn't have to live any longer with the knowledge that her soulmate is a twisted, hopeless fiend."

Anton whipped around and stormed out of the cell, slamming the door shut behind him. Cast into darkness, Aiden whispered, "You and me, both."

Sighing heavily, he fiddled with his handcuffs, testing their strength. Circle Daybreak must have increased their budget for restraints because these cuffs were impressive—damn near unbreakable.

Even so, there was one surefire way out of them. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his right hand with his left until he had dislocated his thumb. He bit down on a grunt of pain as he slipped his maimed hand through the metal bracelet to free his right wrist. Then he snapped the thumb back into place. A few seconds later, his left wrist was free as well.

Stretching his legs out in front of him, he leaned against the side of the cot, which took up nearly half the room, and let his head fall back on the mattress. He closed his eyes and found himself wondering if Anton had been right—if he had been hoping that Daybreak would kill him. It really wouldn't surprise him; there was a part of him that had actually been disappointed earlier when he'd realized that he could easily defeat Lex's maker. Out of some bizarre sense of loyalty to Eve, he would never kill himself, but that didn't mean that Aiden wouldn't happily let someone else do it. And if he had died for something—for _someone_—he could only assume that she would have been proud.

But now…

"What makes you think I'm not proud?" a voice asked from the corner of the room. "The fact that you are still alive makes your sacrifice was no less valiant."

Startled, he twisted around to find a girl standing in his cell. Tall and slim in a flowing white dress, she smiled at him, her expression slightly wistful. Her creamy, flawless skin touched by a hint of rose, her face framed by long, shining blond hair, her eyes deep pools of violet, she was a vision of warmth and beauty.

"Evie," he gasped as he shot to his feet. He stared at her, afraid to blink. Afraid to breathe.

Her smile broadened as a brilliant light shone in her eyes; she had always loved it when he called her that.

He choked on a nervous laugh. Swallowed it back. "Interesting," he murmured as he moved closer to her, half-expecting her to fade away. But if anything, she seemed even more real. "I thought that it would take more than ten minutes of solitary confinement before I progressed from my old aural hallucinations to visual ones."

"You're not hallucinating, Aiden," she said, her voice a glissando over his heartstrings. "You never were."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, a skeptical smile tugging at his mouth. He couldn't afford to believe that because he wanted so badly for it to be true. His hands trembling with a precarious balance of fear and hostility, he reached out to touch her, calling her bluff. But when his fingers brushed against the warm, smooth skin of her cheek, he lost his breath.

So did she.

The soulmate link sang, ringing in his ears, throbbing in time with his heart, and he had the terrible, shameful urge to fall to his knees before her. She would run her fingers through his hair, cradle him against her, comfort and care for him in a way that no one ever had before or ever would again. He couldn't bear it; it was too much.

He snatched his hand away from her defensively. This couldn't be happening. Couldn't be real. The link had never felt this powerful before; he had always been able to block it out, even while he was touching her. What the hell was going on?

"I'm not here in the flesh," Eve explained in response to his thought, sounding as dazed and breathless as he. "This is my true soul."

"What do you want from me," he demanded. "Are you going to try to kill me again? Strangle me? Set me on fire?"

She shook her head. "That was a dream."

Aiden eyed her warily. There was something about that way she was looking at him, her eyes soft and her smile sad, that reminded him of that dream. He could almost hear her whispered words, _Why do you do this to yourself? Turn around. Don't look back._

"That was you at the end, wasn't it?" he said quietly.

Her gaze slipped away from him awkwardly. "I don't like to see you hurting."

His lips peeled back from his teeth in a feral growl as he grabbed her waist and roughly pushed her back against the wall. She gasped in shock, her lips parted and her eyes wide as she looked up at him. There was a mere inch of space between them and he could feel her shallow breath on his cheek. "Then why did you kill yourself?" he snarled, his words carrying with them the force of all the bitterness that had been building within him since she died.

"Because I don't like to hurt either."

The anger fled as quickly as it had come, leaving him drained. He squeezed her slender waist gently, wishing for the first time in his life that he knew how to console someone. It just wasn't in him.

He tried to retreat, but Eve wouldn't let him. She straightened, pressing her body against his, her fingers clutching the sleeves of his shirt. "I forgave you. You know that," she whispered. "I don't blame you for any of it."

"Why?" he asked. He wanted to touch her face again, but he was too afraid of the overwhelming rush of emotions that he knew would follow. "I've never understood."

She nodded. "I know you haven't. You think that I should hate you as much as you hate yourself; sometimes you even take for granted that I do."

"You can't love me," he insisted. "You never knew me."

"You say that so often," she remarked.

"It's the truth."

"It's an _excuse_," she corrected. "A line that you use to push me away."

"Maybe," he conceded. "But those contentions aren't mutually exclusive."

Eve slipped her arms around his neck, combing her fingers up through his hair. He shuddered, unable to stifle a sharp hiss of pleasure. "I stayed with you after I died, Aiden," she murmured softly, tilting her face up. "You felt me. You knew I was there. Perhaps I didn't know you while I was alive, but I know you now."

Captivated by her pretty mouth, by the shivers cascading down his spine, he couldn't formulate an argument. Then he realized that that was precisely what she had intended. He had distracted Lex the same way more than once; he just never imagined that Eve could be as calculating as he.

Calling upon years of practice, he focused on a point on the wall next to her and cut himself off from the physical sensations before they could completely engulf him. "And what do you see, Eve?" he asked her, his voice icy. "Just an animal that needs to be on a leash."

She pulled back slightly, as if he had startled her. "How can you say that?" she gasped.

"That's what you were doing this past year and a half, right? Trying to rein me in, guilt me into being who you wanted me to be because you couldn't handle what I am."

Eve shook her head fervently. "No. Goddess, Aiden…" She cupped his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "I was only trying to give you some guidance. You were in so much pain. So alone. You wanted to be part of the world, but you didn't know how to live in it."

His movements as quick as lightening, he took her throat in one hand, thrusting her head back into the wall. Although his grip was unyielding, he didn't squeeze. He only wanted to remind her of what he was capable of. The electricity surged through them again, but it only fueled his temper. "Don't you dare presume to know what I want," he warned her. "You have no idea."

"And you think you do?" she challenged. The fearlessness in her violet eyes reminded him of how Alexandra often looked at him, but where he had always felt a void in the vampire girl, in his soulmate he felt compassion, understanding, love. It was confounding.

He tightened his grip on her throat, aggravated by her audacity. Furious that she could look at him like that after all that he had done. "I want my life back!" he growled. "I want to be free of you!"

Eve smiled at him, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he could snap her neck like a twig if he wanted. "Then why did you try so hard to lure me back after I left you in New York?" she asked hoarsely.

He had no answer and she knew it. Damn it, he had underestimated her. She had been so easily duped when she was alive that he had assumed that she wasn't especially bright, but she was seeing through him now with a keen eye, easily sifting through his layers of fire and ice to reach his heart. And he almost hated her for it.

"I watched you with Lex," Eve said. "You thought I left, but I only stepped back from you."

"Why?" he replied. His hold on her throat eased, changing from a threat to a caress. His thumb stroked her collarbone and he heard her breath catch. "Jealous?"

"A little," she admitted. When his eyebrows rose in surprise, she shrugged. "I'm not perfect, Aiden. You only wanted to believe that about me."

He nodded begrudgingly. She could be right.

"I tried to reach you for so long," Eve continued. "I tried to awaken your heart, to draw you out of your isolation. For a while I actually thought that I was getting somewhere. You were allowing yourself to feel. You were reaching out to people who needed help. You were starting to see the beauty in the world. But in so many ways, you were still dead—nothing touched you. Then you found Alexandra and she got further with you in five minutes that I did in nineteen months."

"I'm sorry," Aiden whispered, but he wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for.

"Don't be," she replied with a reassuring smile. "It was my fault, really. Seeing you with Lex, I realized that I couldn't force you to live. I stayed with you to help, but in the end I was only hindering you. Keeping you trapped in the past. If you wanted to move forward, it had to be your choice. Not mine."

"God gave us free will for a reason," he murmured to himself, remembering Lindsay's words.

Eve smiled, understanding him perfectly. "She's a wise girl."

Something suddenly occurred to him—the question that should have been the first thing that came to mind when she appeared. "Why are you here?"

She took a deep breath, as if gathering her nerve. "Because I needed to tell you that I've been offered the chance to be reborn. And before I decide, I want to know how you feel about it."

Aiden just stared at her as time came to a screeching halt, leaving her words suspended in the space between them.

Eve. Alive again. A second chance for both of them. It was too much to fathom.

"I killed people," he told her quietly, his gaze locked on hers, daring her to look away. "These past few days, without you in my head, I killed more people than I can remember."

There was a flicker of sadness in her face, but no condemnation. "I know that."

His thumb grazed the hollow of her throat. Yellowish bruises flashed before his eyes each time he blinked. "I haven't changed, Eve. I'll hurt you. I don't know how to do anything else."

She tilted her head to the side, her expression a blend of pity, amusement, and exasperation. "Aiden, look at where you are," she said, gesturing to the tiny cell in which they stood. "This was your decision."

"I didn't do it for you," he snapped.

"No," she agreed. "You didn't do it for me, or Lex, or even Reece. You did it because it was right."

Aiden's lip curled in disgust. "So what if I did? Is that really enough to make you believe that I've made the transformation from psycho killer to productive citizen? Vile betrayer to supportive boyfriend?"

"It's a start," she maintained.

He shook his head, utterly frustrated. "You made the mistake of trusting me once, Eve, and it cost you your life. Don't do it again."

"You are such a coward," she sighed. "Why can't you just say it? Why can't you just admit that you want me? We both know it's true. Why do you try so hard to push me away?"

"Because I need you too much!" he cried. "Because when I'm with you, I don't know who the hell I am. You're the only thing that matters. You take everything from me—my entire life. It's fucking terrifying, Eve."

She moved into him, resting her hands against his chest. "Didn't it ever cross your mind that I might feel the same way?"

He was stunned. "No."

She slid her arms up around his neck, drawing his head down, and against his better judgment, he let it happen. "I do," she told him. "I'm scared out of my mind, Aiden. But I'm not afraid of you."

He couldn't think with her mouth so close, with her scent clouding his mind. "I don't want to hurt you again," he confessed.

"You won't." She leaned in, letting her lips brush against his. "You can't."

"I love you, Evie," he whispered. Then he dipped his head, taking possession of her lips. The soulmate link coiled around them, drawing them together, and for once Aiden didn't fight it. He held her face, breathed her in, lost himself in the energy between them. He gave himself up to the free fall, not caring if he ever landed.

Some time later, they broke apart.

"Will you remember me?" Aiden asked her as he tried to catch his breath.

"I don't think so," she replied. "It's rare that an Old Soul remembers past lives."

"Thank the gods for that."

Then a sudden pain ripped through his heart. "I won't ever find you," he realized aloud. "I'll be locked in here for the rest of eternity. Anton won't let me out, especially if he knew that you were alive again."

"I wouldn't be so sure. With all of your Night World connections, you're too valuable an asset for him to ignore. He'll see that soon enough, as the war draws closer."

He couldn't help smiling at that, feeling a spark of excitement deep inside him. Anton had been wrong; Aiden hadn't surrendered because he wanted to die, he'd done it because he wanted to live, and if Eve was right, he was going to get his chance after all. He would have the Night World quaking in fear before him; the name "Hellraiser" would once again be on everyone's lips, but this time, it would mean something.

"So what's your answer?" Eve prompted him.

"Don't you know? Haven't I already said it?"

"No," she said. "You only implied. I don't want any more misunderstandings between us."

Aiden looked down slightly, twirling a lock of her long hair around his fingers. Slowly, almost inaudibly, he said the words, unable to deny the truth any longer. "I want you. I want another chance."

Her eyes became glassy, shining with unshed tears. Seeing the raw emotion on her face, Aiden's own eyes stung. He leaned down to kiss her again, crushing her against him. She was so warm in his arms, so open and honest. His beautiful, precious, perfect soulmate.

Too soon, he felt her pull away. "I have to go," she sighed.

Desperately, he held on to her, cupping her face in his hands. "No. Not yet."

She smiled at him, her face glowing. "I'll see you soon," she said. "I promise."

Aiden expelled a painful breath of surrender. "I'll be waiting."

Eve took his hand in hers and pressed a kiss to his palm. Then she closed his fist, holding it tightly in her own. She bestowed one last smile upon him before fading into the darkness of his cell.

Alone again, his heart ached, but he could still feel the warmth of her lips against his palm and he knew that he had something to hope for now. A reason to live. It was the most incredible gift anyone had ever given him. "Some day, I'll return the favor, Eve," he whispered. "I swear it."

Turning around, he sat down on the bed and leaned back against the wall. Then holding her kiss close to his heart, he began his vigil.

* * *

_I apologize for the wait everyone. Vacation and writer's block delayed me a lot more than I had expected. I hope this wasn't too sickly sweet, but you were all begging me for a happy ending! I will be writing a little epilogue, though, so that will be coming.. soon?_

_Thank you so much to my fantasmic reviewers.._

_GaLaXy 30587: Heh.. sorry I had to make you wait. I hope it was worth it._

_incarnated-soul: I hope this was a happy enough ending for you. I told you that you would see Eve again. As per your suggestion, I will be writing an epilogue, so stay tuned. As for my next story, it will be an original one, so you'll have to look me up on Fiction Press._

_enchantednight84: Happy ending, ahoy! Thanks so much._

_CalliopeMused: Hehe, thanks for singing your praises (terrible pun, shame on me). But yeah, as I said before, my next story will be an original one. Sooooo much prep work to do first, though. So it'll be a while._

_Daugain: I hope the proper talk between Lex and Reece was okay. I swear, I got to it and suddenly went, "Damn! What the hell are they going to say to each other??" Overall it was really hard to write, so I hope I did it justice. Thanks for the review!_


	21. Epilogue

_Nine Months Later..._

For Aiden St. Helen, time was meaningless. Locked in a cell twenty-five stories underground, he had no concept of a day, an hour, a minute. He barely remembered what the sun or moon looked like; it seemed that the only thing he had ever known was darkness. Sometimes he found himself counting each breath, each heartbeat, each blood bag they sporadically put through the slot on his door in order to prove to himself that time was passing. It was the only way he could stay sane.

And he needed to stay sane. He needed to be ready for the day when Anton Parish opened the door of his cell and begged him to help Circle Daybreak. If Aiden showed any sign of being irrational or unintelligible, Anton would slam the door shut and it would never open again. Aiden wouldn't see Eve in her next life or any other after that.

He couldn't let that happen. He had to keep fighting.

He dreamed of her. He dreamed that she was with him and he dreamed that she was gone. He dreamed of his hands around her throat, burning bridges, acrid smoke, and her soft smile.

She had promised him. She had promised…

He did push-ups. Sit-ups. Tricep presses. Squats and lunges. He ran miles within the confines of his cell.

He hummed. Sang. Whistled. Acted out movies in his head. He had long conversations with himself.

He drove his fist into the wall. Watched the dust of the concrete plume into the air. Felt his knuckles splintering like kindling. He curled his fingers around the blood that trickled across his palm.

_I'm here, damn it! I'm here and I'm alive and I'm waiting for you. Don't forget about me, Eve. You promised me!_

He sobbed.

He slept.

Then one day he awoke to a strange burning in his chest, something akin to the sharp, tingling agony that comes with warming a limb that has gone numb. For a long while, he simply lay there as he clenched his teeth, unable to move. Slowly the scalding pain subsided into a dull, hot ache that he recognized as longing.

"Evie…?"

As if the gods were answering him, the heavy locks on his door were suddenly retracted with a loud clang and a stale gust of air teased his skin as his cell was opened. The light from the hallway blinded him, but Aiden refused to wince. Very casually, as if he weren't surprised in the least, he sat up and faced the figure that was standing in the doorway.

"What do you know about Kristar Seneca?" Anton asked him.

"Made vampire," he answered. "Changed at the age of nineteen during World War II. Six feet tall, white-blond hair, turquoise eyes, Celtic knot tattoo on the back of his left hand.

"He was Angie's third in command and he would have taken over the D.C. Night World after her death and my defection, but Dolan Redfern used his family influence to grab that honor for himself. Despite that defeat, Kristar is smart, careful, and controlled, so there is no real doubt in anyone's mind that he will be there to pick up the pieces once Dolan fucks everything up.

"And on a more personal note," Aiden added, "the last I heard, he _is_ available and he enjoys ritualistic slaughter, _Saving Private Ryan_, and long walks on the beach."

Anton crossed his arms over his chest. "Anything else?"

"I don't know," he replied coyly. "What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?" the Daybreaker returned warily.

"Tell me what's going on. Let me help."

Anton shook his head. "Never. We can't trust you, Hellraiser."

"I don't think you have a choice," Aiden said. Even though his heart was pounding, his voice was miraculously nonchalant. "You wouldn't have come to me otherwise."

The Daybreaker frowned. "I won't release you."

"I'm not asking you to."

"We'll cast every truth spell in existence on you, so if this is some sort of trick, you'll be wasting your time."

Aiden smiled. "Take whatever precautions you like."

Anton regarded him inquisitively. "Tell me why."

"I don't know," he answered sarcastically. "Call me crazy, but after the first few weeks, solitary confinement becomes a tad boring. Perhaps I'm simply looking for a way to pass the time."

Aiden held his breath while Anton stared him down. His entire life depended on the next words out of the lamia's mouth.

"Dolan did indeed screw everything up," Anton finally said. "For the first time in nearly ten years, we had the Night World in this city under control. Then, about three months ago, we received word that Kristar was back and he was planning a major coup…"

The Daybreaker talked for a long time, giving Aiden the details on their situation. All the while, Aiden couldn't quite hide his smile. He hadn't been released from this compound or even from this cell yet, but he would soon enough. This meeting with Anton would be the first of many. It would start as simple requests for information, then progress to consultations on tactics, and then the day would come when Daybreak would have a field assignment—most likely a suicide mission—that only Aiden could do. When he came back alive, he would take on another mission, then another and another until he had become an integral part of Circle Daybreak once again. By the time he found Eve, he would be worthy of her.

She had kept her promise and now he would keep his.

Their new life began today.

* * *

Alexandra had never been to a wedding before, let alone been part of the bridal party. It was a little overwhelming, rushing to the spa to have her hair and makeup done, cramming herself into her crimson strapless bridesmaid's dress, and then being snapped with the camera a few millions times, but she was happy to be a part of it all. She was touched that Karissa had wanted to include her.

The wedding ceremony was performed at sunset in an arboretum full of maple trees. Nick's family had wanted them do to a traditional handfasting ceremony, but Karissa's family knew nothing about the Night World, so they compromised by having a more secular ceremony led by a Circle Daybreak minister.

Standing in line with the other bridesmaids at the alter, Lex could see Nick gazing at Karissa. The warmth of the setting sun softened the sharp lines of his face, making him seem younger, almost childlike in his happiness. His hazel eyes were pale and translucent and as she looked into them, Lex felt her power taking hold of her. She tensed instinctively—old habits die hard—but in the next instant, she was swept away by a wave of sheer emotion. Falling headlong into Nick's soul, all she could see was Karissa's eyes, Karissa's smile, Karissa's bright, beautiful spirit. On every level of his consciousness, Nick was consumed with love.

The audience applauded loudly as the bride and groom kissed, startling Lex back into the moment. She clapped as well, her heart still soaring. It was times like this that she really didn't mind her power. It was a blessing to know that love this pure existed in this world.

After the ceremony was over, everyone walked over to the west lawn for the reception. As Nick's best man, Reece sat at the head table while Lex sat with the rest of the wedding party at a nearby table. She had been disappointed at first, but Alyssa, Jase, and Sorrentino were there, too, and she was fairly comfortable around them now. As it happened, the two guys were in rare form that night as they tried to hit on Karissa's younger sister, who was the third bridesmaid. By the time dinner was served, Lex was laughing so hard that her stomach hurt.

It was hard to settle down a few minutes later when Reece stood up at his table, his champagne glass in his hand. "Excuse me, everyone. Could I please have your attention?" he asked. "I'd like to take a minute to say a few things about the bride and groom."

Lex clamped her hand over her mouth to quiet her giggling as the loud rumbling of conversation in the courtyard ceased and all of the guests turned toward Reece. As always, she was in awe of her soulmate. If she had to give a speech in front of this many people, knowing that they were hanging on her every word, she would be a nervous wreck, but he was completely at ease. After leading his team for so long, he was use to commanding attention.

"For those of you that don't know me," he continued, "I'm Reece Cahill and I have the honor of being Nick's best man. I'm actually the person who introduced him to Karissa over three years ago and I still remember the first thing he ever said to me about her: 'Does that girl ever stop talking?'"

"In case anyone is wondering, the answer is no," Nick chimed in. The crowd laughed as Karissa playfully punched him in the stomach. Then she settled back against him and he put his arm around her.

"For the first few months," the best man went on, "he complained constantly that Karissa drove him crazy, but it was obvious to the rest of us that he was really just crazy about her. Of course, Nick was too dense to realize it until she clocked him upside the head one night while they were sparring at the gym. He came home from the hospital a few hours later with a mild concussion and a goofy smile on his face and he said to me, 'Cahill, I think I'm in love.'"

Reece's own smile softened as his eyes locked onto Lex across the room. "John Lennon said that all you need is love, but the truth is that anyone can fall in love. That's the easy part. The hard part is taking care of someone when they're sick. Holding them when they're scared. Listening to them even when you're angry. Persevering when they try to push you away. Admitting when you're wrong. Forgiving them when they can't forgive themselves. Talking to them, even if it means risking your heart and your pride. And above all, putting their needs before your own.

"Nick and Karissa have taught me that it's the work that you put into a relationship that defines it. And I think by any definition, their relationship is truly special. So if you would all please join me in raising your glass to the bride and groom."

He turned to face the couple. "May the blessings of light be upon you—light without as well as light within. May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past. And may the work ahead of you bring you as much joy as you feel today."

Lex sipped her champagne and while her head was tipped back slightly, she closed her eyes to keep her tears from escaping.

When she opened them again, she found her soulmate watching her and he raised his eyebrows in concern. _Are you okay?_ His telepathic voice sent a shiver of delight through her and she could hardly believe that she had once feared this intimacy so much.

_I'm fine_, she replied. _I was just remembering why I love you._

Reece grinned at her, understanding exactly what she was feeling.

They had had a long year.

Even with Zarek dead, Lex still struggled with her past. Reluctantly, she told Reece about Copenhagen and at his suggestion, they flew to Denmark a few days later. Together they walked to the Tivoli Gardens, where she had found that young girl she had skinned alive, and Reece held her while she cried. Later that night, he helped her kill a vampire who was stalking a single mother with a two year-old son. To her surprise, it had helped a little.

When they came back home, Lex began volunteering at an abused women's shelter that was run by Circle Daybreak. She decided to finish her GED, apply to college, eventually major in social work. And that helped a little, too.

Reece had been through a lot this year as well. He'd had a difficult time adjusting to being a vampire, but instead of hiding it from her, he'd confided in Lex. He felt frustrated, cheated, at odds with himself, and he knew that she understood. Really, she'd never dealt with any of those issues herself, so she and Reece confronted them together.

It had been hard—harder than she had ever thought possible—but they were getting through it. And each day they conquered together brought them closer.

Lex was so distracted by the warm, glowing look in her soulmate's eyes that she didn't notice Karissa bounding over to her in a blur of white satin.

"Come on!" the human girl exclaimed as she grabbed Lex and Alyssa by the arm. "It's time to dance."

The tall, dark-haired lamia groaned as she was dragged out of her seat. "No, no, no. I don't do dancing."

Karissa spun around and pointed a menacing finger at her. "Alyssa, I realize that you have a strong aversion to all things 'girly', but this is my wedding day and what I say goes. So you had better start shaking your booty before I put my foot in it."

Alyssa gave her friend a sarcastic salute. "Sir, yes, sir."

"You run a tight ship, Karissa," Reece noted with a wry smile as he joined the group.

"Believe me, this isn't the worst of it," the lamia replied. "You should have heard her on the phone this past week with the florist, and the caterers, and the DJ. Hannibal had nothing on her."

"We'll see how forgiving you are when you get married," the human girl said huffily.

Alyssa shook her head vehemently. "Uh, uh. That's never going to happen. I think Cahill was right. Relationships are too much work."

Reece frowned. "That's not what I said."

"No," Karissa agreed. Then she pursed her lips pensively. "But you just couldn't let a day go by without bringing up work, could you, Oh Fearless Leader?"

"I was only trying—"

"Relax, I'm just teasing you," the human girl interjected, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Your toast was beautiful. Really."

"Thanks," he replied as he drew her into a hug. "I'm so happy for you and Nick."

Karissa started to reply, but then she abruptly broke free as the DJ started to play something by Usher. "I love this song!" she squealed. Then, no longer caring if anyone else would join her, she hiked up her wedding dress and charged out onto the dance floor.

Reece turned to his soulmate, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter, and gave her a small, courteous bow. "After you."

Lex took a second to kick off her heels and followed Karissa onto the floor with Alyssa and Reece right behind her.

They danced together in a big circle. After a while, Nick was able to pry himself away from his family and join the group. And when their attempts to pick up every single girl at the wedding failed, Jase and Sorrentino danced with them as well.

Hours later, her legs were tired and her feet ached, so Lex let Reece support her weight as a slow song came on. Splaying his hands across the small of her back, he held her close to him. His warm breath fell on her bare shoulder as she rested her head against his chest. "Are you having fun?" he murmured.

"Mmhmm." Then she yawned. "It's getting late, though. It looks like a lot of people left already."

Reece looked around the courtyard. "Yeah. You want to head out?"

She yawned again. "Okay. I've just got to find my shoes and purse."

Once she collected her things, she and Reece went to tell the bride and groom that they were leaving.

"Aww," Karissa whined. "Already?"

"Sorry," Lex replied. "I've got to get up early tomorrow to study for an exam."

"Fine, fine," the bride grumbled. "But wait, I need a picture of all of us before you leave. Stay right here and I'll go grab the photographer."

A few minutes later, they returned. "Okay, I want the whole team together," Karissa directed. When Sorrentino started to sneak away, she snatched his arm. "Even you, _Francis_."

"Don't make me kill you on your wedding day, Karissa," Sorrentino warned.

"I'd like to see you try," she replied cheerily as she dragged him back to the group and positioned him beside Alyssa and Jase. Then Nick and Karissa stood to the right of those three with Reece and Lex on their other side.

As she waited for the photographer to adjust the focus on his camera, Alexandra shivered in the cool breeze. The summer was rapidly waning into autumn, but for the first time in her life, she wasn't dreading the coming winter. It would be cold and the wind would bite and her hair would frizz, but there would also be classes at the university, volunteer work at the shelter, shopping trips with Karissa, and, best of all, hours of cuddling with Reece to look forward to.

"Everyone smile," the photographer said. After the flash sparked in the darkness, he lowered the camera to view the digital picture. "Okay, one more." Another flash. "You on the end, lose the bunny ears."

"Jase!" Alyssa shouted, elbowing him in the ribs. "Grow up!"

"All right, one more time," the photographer ordered. After the next flash, he looked at the picture and smiled. "Perfect."

As she grinned at her friends, Lex felt Reece take her hand and give it a firm squeeze. Gazing up into his eyes, she heard his telepathic voice echo, _Perfect_.

_Most definitely_, she murmured. Then she stood up on her toes to kiss him.

* * *

_Well I would have had this up earlier this weekend, but my internet was on the fritz. But I hope you all enjoyed the epilogue. I can't believe this story is finally done.. I can't believe it took me a year to write it. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun and I want to thank everyone who read it._

_And thanks to those who reviewed the last part.._

_GaLaXy 30587: Thanks for all your enthusiasm. I'm glad you liked the end._

_enchantednight84: You're too kind! And don't worry, I do plan to keep writing. Heh, it's a horrible addiction at this point._

_incarnated-soul: Oh dear, I'm going to miss your reviews. I'm sooo happy I was able to elicit a squeal. I couldn't leave Aiden down in that cell forever. I'm not too surprised that you like his part with Eve better.. he has become my favorite character and I think that shines through when I'm writing his parts. Um, as for my next story, it will be on Fiction Press. It's going to be about a girl recovering from an eating disorder.. I know the ED thing has been done to death, but most stories I've read have focused on who the girls get sick and not so much on how they get better and that's the story that I want to tell.. but it's also going to be about her family and falling in love and how recovery and real life clash. That's the plan, anyways. I've got a lot of character development work to do before I start, though. In the mean time, I'll continue to revise Haunted.. I can't seem to let these characters go! Okay, enough rambling.. thank you so much!!_


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